Re: [seul-edu] Site@School V2.1 betatesters needed

[Harry McGregor <micros@osef.org>]

Ok, I wanted to stay out of this, but I can't.

On Sat, 2004-01-31 at 05:35, Hans Paijmans wrote:
> Why fight the monopoly of Microsoft if we surrender without comment
> to the American monopoly on education and culture?

Who says that America has a monopoly on education and culture? 
Personally, and this comes from living in the US most of my life, I feel
quit the opposite.

The reason I got involved in Open Source and Free Software in Education,
and the reason I have put considerable resources into starting OSEF
(www.osef.org) with the help of many others, is that we feel the
American education system as a whole is broken.

Myself, I dropped out of high school to attend college, and wound up
teaching at the junior college level by the time I was 20.  I feel the
American education system by and large harms students in the name of
profits ($).  One of the goals of OSEF is to enhance education through
the use of technology, another major goal is to integrate Open Source
and Free Software ideology and concepts into the greater education
system.

As far a culture goes, I find that the US has a very dull culture as a
whole, it's only when you start dealing with different ethnic groups
within the US that "American" culture has any appeal to me (Greek,
Jewish, Russian, etc).

> SEUL comes into it because I have the distinct feeling that
> non-American attempts at cooperation and non-American software
> in the past have been ignored by SEUL.

And where do you get that idea from?  I have worked with SEUL
participants from all over the world, Canada, England, Brazil, Taiwan,
France, etc.

>  If that has been an
> honest communication glitch I would like to discuss the chain
> of events with you off-list.

Attitudes likes yours, which I have seen expressed by Europeans in the
Open Source community before, give me the impression that Europe is even
more of a protectionist than the United States, which is hard to
believe.

When OSEF received it's 501(c)3 non-profit status from the United States
Internal Revenue Service, the news made DebianPlanet.org.  The first
post was "oh, this does not matter, it's US based".  Not, what can we do
to help make more official the groups that are working in Europe (such
as OFSET, a very wonderful group, yet I don't think they have actual
corporation status, or the equivalent of a chartable status in Europe). 
The comment was written in a very destructive tone and manner, not
constructive saying what can we do here closer to home.

Your comment is making me rethink my plans to take my honeymoon in
Europe this summer (yes, I am getting married for those of you who don't
already know).  Or should I just make sure that I travel on my Canadian
passport (yes, I am dual American/Canadian).

			Harry

--
Harry McGregor, CEO, Co-Founder
Hmcgregor@osef.org, (520) 661-7875 (CELL)
Open Source Education Foundation, http://www.osef.org
A non-profit tax exempt charitable organization