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The day before our kinder's and second grader's school started we got a message from the teacher that they were changing the software to be used for remote teac

by bradly 6y ago

The day before our kinder's and second grader's school started we got a message from the teacher that they were changing the software to be used for remote teaching at the last moment. This sounded very strange so we googled the company name, Acellus. It turns out the curriculum is filled with racist and sexist content. I do not believe this would have happened if using FOSS. https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/08/hawaii-schools-dump-distance-learning-program-over-racist-content/ https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/08/hawaii-schools-dump-distan...

EricE 6y ago
lol - just look at the code of conduct fiasco with Linux over the last year or so. If you think FOSS is immune from ideological injection your deluding yourself.
- bradly 6y ago
  I do not believe FOSS elementary curriculum would have racist and sexist content.
  - EricE 6y ago
    That's a nice belief, but there is nothing special with FOSS that would prevent it. Majority rules when there is no hierarchical structure - for example the amount of politically motivated editorializing in Wikipedia makes whole swaths of it highly questionable - article content is driven by the largest tribe, not facts.
    - mixmastamyk 6y ago
      The fact that it is open makes replacing content trivial. Try replacing the content of the proprietary solution mentioned and let us know how it goes.
    - bradly 6y ago
      It's not about majority rules–it is about openness. I'm not concerned if a single person controls the content or a large community ruled by the majority. What matters to me is that the content is publicly available for all to see and review. With open curriculum parents can look at what is being taught and make a decision based on the content. In a closed system this is not possible. The only reason Acellus became an issue this year was because someone on twitter took a picture of their child's lesson and luckily the media picked up on it.

by bradly 6y ago

EricE 6y ago

lol - just look at the code of conduct fiasco with Linux over the last year or so. If you think FOSS is immune from ideological injection your deluding yourself.

bradly 6y ago
I do not believe FOSS elementary curriculum would have racist and sexist content.
- EricE 6y ago
  That's a nice belief, but there is nothing special with FOSS that would prevent it. Majority rules when there is no hierarchical structure - for example the amount of politically motivated editorializing in Wikipedia makes whole swaths of it highly questionable - article content is driven by the largest tribe, not facts.
  - mixmastamyk 6y ago
    The fact that it is open makes replacing content trivial. Try replacing the content of the proprietary solution mentioned and let us know how it goes.
  - bradly 6y ago
    It's not about majority rules–it is about openness. I'm not concerned if a single person controls the content or a large community ruled by the majority. What matters to me is that the content is publicly available for all to see and review. With open curriculum parents can look at what is being taught and make a decision based on the content. In a closed system this is not possible. The only reason Acellus became an issue this year was because someone on twitter took a picture of their child's lesson and luckily the media picked up on it.