[Fsfe-uk] Re: Schools etc. [was:RE: accu-general: Where to setup web site]

[PFJ]

Hi,

> > I personally believe that the best way to fix education (and 
> > the NHS) is
> > for parliment to stop trying to run them and give control totally to
> > those who know what they're doing. However, that is not the point...
> 
> Not to get into a political discussion, (oops I think we already did!)
> Do you mean private companies?  That sounds good but they would
> concentrate on the profitable parts.

I don't think private companies are a good idea. The NHS (and other
sectors like that, including education) should be run by those who know
the sector and what is actually best for it. I know of plenty of high
ups in education who would turn the clock back academically to 1988
[first GCSE exams] and go from there to get rid of the mismanagement.
The NHS was better run when the government let surgeries negotiate their
own contracts with hospitals - it really did shake a lot of things up
for the good. It was destroyed over night when they were told they could
no longer manage themselves.

It may be that getting the likes of Sony to help in the management and
promotion would be a good thing, but their remit would have to come
second place to what is actually required - a decent basis for our
children (or if you're one of our younger members, for you continued
education) to learn in.

Case in point. My big sis has three kids and they live out in some
backwater on the very outskirts of Preston. Two of her three girls go to
the local primary school (the third goes in September, the first moves
to juniors). The school has 2 class rooms, a hall, a headmaster, a
secretary and 2 teachers. The numbers warrant another teacher. For the
past couple of years the school has muddled through, but always with the
Christmas concert being nothing more than a school funds raiser. They
are depleated in terms of books and resources. This is all down to the
current provision for funding. Prior to the current funding structure,
the school had all it needed and could afford nice things, it was self
governing and had funds. When the last round of changes came back in,
power was given back to the local LEA and the school suddenly found
itself short of cash.

> I believe it's already true that drug companies are unlikely to develop
> treatments for conditions for which the market is small.

No. They are unlikely to develop treatments where there is little or no
profit. In a lot of cases, technologies (and drugs) for small markets
usually yield big advantages. Look at ARM and RISC OS. ARM processors
were originally built for RISC OS machines in a relatively small market.
ARM is now one of the biggest chip designers around. RISC OS is used in
set top boxes as well as anything else which requires NC like
facilities.

> If not private companies, and not the govt. then who?

Those who actually work for the organisations. Many NHS managers would
love to go back to the way it was before local bargaining came in (last
election some time). Many schools would love to go back to self
governing trusts again.

> I agree with the point about software though.  And I think more are
> now discovering the strengths of Free software.

They are. Unfortunately, the terms of the licence means that even if a
school has a PC running Linux/BSD/whatever not covered by the licence,
they still have to pay. The company wins both ways - they get the same
if a school uses their OS or not!

TTFN

Paul

P.S. Sorry about not saying the name of the company, we all know who it
is, but due to certain pressures and recent events, I cannot say the
name while at work.

-- 
Open your mind to a time where a company does not have control
Open your mind to a choice of applications which you can control
Open your mind from the closed world of those who seek total power
Open your mind to the wonderful world of Open Source