| | |
|
AliceWangFirstEssay 3 - 07 Jan 2015 - Main.AliceWang
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstEssay" |
|---|
Education in the Second Enclosure Movement | | | The Importance of Education to Free Software | |
<
< | As much as the eradication of ignorance needs Free Software, the survival of Free Software depends on the eradication of ignorance. Proprietary software dominates the consumer market by depending on the ignorance of the consumer and a perceived lack of competition against the dominant proprietary suites. In this privileged corner of the world, proprietary software has the wealth to buy enclosures, so the proprietary software giants have the minds of the people. The vast majority of the world, however, lies beyond this corner. According to World Bank data from 2008, almost 80% of the world lives on less than $10 per day. If open education powered by Free Software and cheap hardware can educate this segment of the population, the technology consumer market would change entirely. Free Software is not only a conveyor of knowledge, but also the best technical training grounds in the world, which also happen to be free. Raised in an environment of open knowledge and free of the control of the existing proprietary software, the educated masses from the developing world would create innovative and competitive software that render the current oligarchy simply irrelevant. | >
> | As much as the eradication of ignorance needs Free Software, the survival of Free Software depends on the eradication of ignorance. Proprietary software dominates the consumer market by depending on the ignorance of the consumer and a perceived lack of competition against the dominant proprietary suites. In this privileged corner of the world, proprietary software has the wealth to buy enclosures, so the proprietary software giants have the minds of the people. The vast majority of the world, however, lies beyond this corner. According to World Bank data from 2008, almost 80% of the world lives on less than $10 per day. If open education powered by Free Software and cheap hardware can educate this segment of the population, the technology consumer market would change entirely. Free Software is not only a conveyor of knowledge, but also the best technical training grounds in the world, which also happen to be free. Raised in an environment of open knowledge and free of the control of the existing proprietary software, the educated masses from the developing world would create innovative and competitive software that render the current oligarchy simply irrelevant. | | | | |
>
> |
As much as the eradication of ignorance needs Free Software, the survival of Free Software depends on technical and cultural education. Kerala, India is a community that understands the importance of education because it is a traditionally agricultural state that is now home to India’s largest technology park and has the highest Human Development Index rating in India. When its government initiated an IT education program for grade schools in 2001, the curriculum was based on Microsoft applications. The local Free Software community successfully protested, and a complete shift to Free Software was completed in 2006, after which the curriculum grew into the world’s largest FOSS-based ICT education program. Raised in an environment of open knowledge, the Keralans not only receive the technical education to create and modify software but the values education to do so in order that the software become conduits for freedom. Free Software relies on such double-pronged education to produce architects who ensure that others continue to have the freedom to use, adapt, and redistribute the software. When proliferated, this educational model would lead to the creation of innovative software that can compete the current proprietary oligarchy out of the marketplace.
| | | Conclusion
In a world with a thinning ozone layer, melting polar caps, and drastically worsening pollution, we cannot afford to waste the majority of human potential for the benefit of the few. With time running out, human ingenuity should be allowed to compete out corruption and inefficiency. For the first time in history, we must eradicate ignorance. | | | directly.
\ No newline at end of file | |
>
> |
Thank you for your comment. I did not know about Kerala. Edited.
|
|
|
|
|
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform.
All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
All material marked as authored by Eben Moglen is available under the license terms CC-BY-SA version 4.
|
|
| | |