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- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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<h2>Why Schools Should Exclusively Use Free Software</h2>

<address class="byline">
by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a></address>
<hr class="thin" />

<p>There are general reasons why
<div class="article">
<blockquote>
<p>
Educational activities, including schools of all levels from
kindergarten to university, have a moral duty
to <a href="/education/education.html">teach only free
software.</a></p>

<p>All computer users should ought to 
<a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">
insist on free software. It software</a>: it gives users
the freedom to control their own computers—with proprietary
software, the computer program does what the
software its owner or developer wants it to do,
not what the software user wants it to do.  Free software also gives users the
freedom to cooperate with each other, to lead an upright life.  These
reasons apply to schools as they do to everyone.</p>

<p>But there are special everyone.  However, the purpose
of this article is to present the additional reasons that apply
specifically to schools. They are the
subject of this article. </p>

<p>First, free education.</p>
</blockquote>
<div class="column-limit"></div>

<p>Free software can save the schools money. Even in the
richest countries, schools money, but this is a secondary
benefit.  Savings are short of money. Free possible because free software gives schools,
like other users, the freedom to copy and redistribute the
software, so software;
the school system can make copies for all the computers
they have. In poor countries, this give a copy to every school, and each school can help close
install the digital
divide.</p> program in all its computers, with no obligation to pay
for doing so.</p>

<p>This obvious reason, while important, benefit is rather shallow. And
proprietary software developers can eliminate this disadvantage by
donating copies useful, but we firmly refuse to give it first place,
because it is shallow compared to the schools.  (Watch out!—a school that
accepts this offer may have important ethical issues at
stake.  Moving schools to pay for future upgrades.) free software is more than a way to make
education a little “better”: it is a matter of doing good
education instead of bad education.  So let's
look at consider the deeper reasons.</p>

<p>School should
issues.</p>

<p>Schools have a social mission: to teach students ways to be citizens of life that will benefit society
as
a whole. strong, capable, independent, cooperating and free society.  They
should promote the use of free software just as they promote recycling.  If schools teach
conservation and voting.  By teaching students free software, then the
students will use free software after they graduate. can
graduate citizens ready to live in a free digital society.  This will
help society as a whole escape from being dominated (and gouged) by
megacorporations.  Those corporations
megacorporations.</p>

<p>In contrast, to teach a nonfree program is implanting dependence,
which goes counter to the schools' social mission.  Schools should
never do this.</p>

<p>Why, after all, do some proprietary software developers offer free samples
gratis copies<a href="#note1">(1)</a> of their nonfree programs to schools
for
schools?  Because they want to <em>use</em> the same reason schools to implant
dependence on their products, like tobacco companies distribute free cigarettes: distributing
gratis cigarettes to
get children addicted <a href="#note1">(1)</a>. school children<a href="#note2">(2)</a>.  They
will not give
discounts gratis copies to these students once they've graduated,
nor to the companies that they grow up go to work for.  Once you're dependent,
you're expected to pay, and graduate.</p> future upgrades may be expensive.</p>

<p>Free software permits students to learn how software works.  When
students reach  Some
students, natural-born programmers, on reaching their teens, some of them want teens yearn to
learn everything there is to know about their computer system and its
software.  That
is the age when people who will be good programmers should learn it.
To learn to write software well, students need to read a lot of
code and write a lot of code.  They need to read and understand
real programs that people really use.  They will be are intensely curious to read the source code of the
programs that they use every day.</p>

<p>Proprietary software rejects their thirst for knowledge: it says,
“The knowledge you want is a secret—learning is
forbidden!” Free Proprietary software is the enemy of the spirit of
education, so it should not be tolerated in a school, except as an
object for reverse engineering.</p>

<p>Free software encourages everyone to learn. The free software
community rejects the “priesthood of technology”, which
keeps the general public in ignorance of how technology works; we
encourage students of any age and situation to read the source code
and learn as much as they want to know. Schools know.</p>

<p>Schools that use free software will enable gifted programming
students to advance.</p> advance.  How do natural-born programmers learn to be good
programmers?  They need to read and understand real programs that
people really use.  You learn to write good, clear code by reading
lots of code and writing lots of code.  Only free software permits
this.</p>

<p>How do you learn to write code for large programs?  You do that by
writing lots of changes in existing large programs.  Free Software
lets you do this; proprietary software forbids this.  Any school can
offer its students the chance to master the craft of programming, but
only if it is a free software school.</p>

<p>The next deepest reason for using free software in schools is on an even
deeper level. for moral
education. We expect schools to teach students basic facts, facts and useful
skills, but that is not only part of their whole job. The most fundamental
mission task
of schools is to teach people to be good citizens and good
neighbors—to cooperate with others who need their help. citizenship, including the habit of
helping others. In the area of computers, computing, this means teaching them people
to share software.
Elementary schools, above all,  Schools, starting from nursery school, should tell
their pupils, students, “If you bring software to school, you must share
it with the other
children.” Of students.  You must show the source code to the
class, in case someone wants to learn.  Therefore bringing nonfree
software to class is not permitted, unless it is for
reverse-engineering work.”</p>

<p>Of course, the school must practice what it preaches:
all the software installed by the school it should be available
bring only free software to class (except objects for
reverse-engineering), and share copies including source code with the
students to copy, so they can copy it, take it home, and redistribute it
further.</p>

<p>Teaching the students to use free software, and to participate in
the free software community, is a hands-on civics lesson.  It also
teaches students the role model of public service rather than that of
tycoons.  All levels of school should use free software.</p>

<p>If you have a relationship with a school —if you are a
student, a teacher, an employee, an administrator, a donor, or a
parent— it's your responsibility to campaign for the school to
migrate to free software.  If a private request doesn't achieve the
goal, raise the issue publicly in those communities; that is the way
to make more people aware of the issue and find allies for the
campaign.</p>

<ol>
<li id="note1">RJ id="note1">Warning: a school that accepts such an
offer may find subsequent upgrades rather expensive.</li>

<li id="note2">RJ Reynolds tobacco company Tobacco Company was
fined $15m in 2002 for handing out free samples of cigarettes at
events attended by children.  See 
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/features/health/tobaccotrial/usa.htm">
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/features/health/tobaccotrial/usa.htm</a>.</li>
</ol>
<div class="column-limit"></div>

<p>See also:</p>
<div class="important">
<p><a 
href="/education/edu-why.html#content">Why Educational Institutions 
Should Use and Teach Free Software</a></p>
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<p>Copyright © 2003 2003, 2009, 2014-2016, 2020, 2021, 2024 Richard Stallman</p>

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