Microsoft Certifications For High School Credits In Australia 126
kanad writes "High school students in Queensland, Australia would be able to do Microsoft certifications online and get credits. The exam fees will be free for students and courses include Microsoft's products like Sharepoint and SQL Server. Ostensibly this is for making kids ready for the workforce. but Australian IT entrepreneur Matt Barrie CEO of freelancer.com has criticised it for vendor lock-in and Microsoft's influence in the educational system."
Sharepoint and SQL? (Score:4, Insightful)
I've been hearing that high school curriculums have been increasingly dummied down, but I had no idea it was this bad.
Not good (Score:5, Insightful)
Certifications are no substitute for fundamentals.
The problem with certifications is that they date so quickly as versions and products come and go.
Understanding fundamentals helps you pick up anything new.
Re:Not good (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with certifications is that they date so quickly as versions and products come and go.
Of course. A high-schooler getting a MS certification now will be ready to spend a hefty chunk of student-loan cash to get the up-to-date version as soon as their next graduation rolls around, just to avoid looking like they've been ignoring the real world while in that ivory tower.
Microsoft comes away profiting and looking like a hero.
Re:Why the negative? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why the negative? (Score:1, Insightful)
*rabble* *rabble* Because it's not open-source... hate anything Microsoft... *rabble* *rabble*
Re:Why the negative? (Score:4, Insightful)
How is getting an MCSE any more or less useful than taking any other elective in Shop or Band or Home Ec'?
They still have to take the three R's to graduate. You don't get to skip your civics class to take one of these...
It's less useful because you didn't take Shop where you only learned how to use Milwaukee brand tools. You didn't take Cooking and only learn to use KitchenAid products.
Re:Why the negative? (Score:4, Insightful)
Shop, band, and home ec' classes are all general-knowledge classes, whose principles apply to many aspects of life later on, regardless of what career path you choose.
An MCSE certification is only useful in one particular field, under very particular circumstances. It looks good to parents, because every individual parent is going to be happy that their kid has a promising future in computers, but the reality is that most of those high-schoolers won't actually take a computer career, and most of those that eventually do will have another several years of college to learn other general skills before they'll (maybe) use that certified knowledge.
Re:Why the negative? (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't just about Free Software.
There are other brands of commercial software too. Microsoft isn't the only commercial software vendor in existence. Even their own payware applications suffer from severe UI churn.
Even if you have Microsoft blinders on and love them, fixating on a single release of a single brand of product is problematic.
The "hate anything Microsoft" approach does not require Free Software.
Re:Not good (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't about the certs as much as it is getting kids programmed to use Microsoft products.
Like drug dealers, they need to capture the next generation. The first is always free.
Educational insitutions and vendors (Score:5, Insightful)
Several years back, I gave a few guest lectures at some local univesities about network security. Intrusion detection was an important topic. There are some very nice open source IDS out there, Snort obviously being the most well known one. So, what does the university do? Instead of using Snort as a basic teaching tool, they instead went for a proprietary solution of some mid-teer vendor. As a result, they passed on a perfectly good opportunity to let students take a look 'under the hood' and see how the inside of such a system works by examining the source code, limiting them to just fiddling with the UI of the proprietary vendor. Shameful!
In the local press we can always read wonderful accounts how Microsoft "donated" millions of dollars worth of software to local schools. Of course, it's never reported that there is hardly any cost to Microsoft in doing so, definitely not millions, and that in return they get well-trained Microsof-monkeys entering the work force, knowing and demanding to only work with Mircosoft tools. Shameful!
It began a long time ago when Apple started to be "generous" with discounts and donations to schools. Microsoft and other vendors are following this "proud" tradition: Schools miss the chance to teach actual understanding of fundamental principles and instead degenerate their courses into nothing more than vendor training. There is too much lobbying, wining and dining and backroom dealing going on here. Where open source should make huge inroads, instead the vendors are doing their best to lock in entire future generations.
Re:Not good (Score:5, Insightful)
Any company that requires current "certifications" for people who have been working years in the field deserves exactly what they get. I haven't been certified since my Novel days, and haven't even been interested since. IF people doubt my qualifications based on what I have been doing for the past 20 years, fine by me, I don't want to work for them.
The exception is people who are outside hires for tech support, who want to toss out "We only employ certified people". Okay, that's great, but again, you get exactly what you should expect, marginal competency and "by the book" work. Do not expect creative solutions to impossible problems.
Re:Not good (Score:3, Insightful)
The core concepts in Word and Excel apply to other free and commercial word processors and spreadsheet software. Yes, the certifications benefit Microsoft more than other vendors, but the important question is whether the MS-based certifications are a net benefit to society as a whole.
Re:Not good (Score:3, Insightful)
Like churchs, they need to capture the next generation. The first hit of relegious salvation is always free.
FTFY.
Don't like Microsoft?Come up with something better (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course the predictable chorus of anti-Microsoft content has popped up.
My suggestion to you folks is that if you have such issues with Microsoft offering course content to schools, go ahead and come up with an alternative and make it happen. It should be easy to come up with a course, develop all of the materials, train the instructors and keep it up to date.
Until then, deal with the reality that the large majority of the world runs Microsoft software. There is a Windows application to support practically every business process in existence. It might not be the best solution every time, but it is a solution.
When I was school, Novell was the dominant vendor. I got my CNA through an ROP program. That class exposed me to a lot of relevant information. Everything from the OSI model, to file system permissions, to client / server architectures, etc. I never thought, "Oh my God. I am being impoverished by learning about technology that companies are using in the real world!" At 16 years old I was excited to be working with servers and clients and learning more about computers than I was able to learn at home. My Novell specific knowledge is worthless now, but the fundamental information that I got from the class, and the real world experience that I got is something that I use daily.
Who cares if Microsoft is providing the curriculum? Kids are being given the opportunity to expand their knowledge of computers and networks. Kids are naturally curious. If the Microsoft way of doing things sucks, they will come up with other ways to do things.
Re:What's more dangerous than corp. vendor lock-in (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not sure McDonald's should take that insult from you.
One thing about McDonalds is that they continually bring in new products AND kill old ones that people aren't buying much anymore. They also change things up to fit demand, they compete on price, they are willing to vastly change their menu to suit locales (India is a great example), avoiding the ignorant push for a one-size-fits-all solution for everyone.
I really wish Mcrosoft were mroe like McDonald's.
Re:Don't like Microsoft?Come up with something bet (Score:2, Insightful)
O'Reilly's "Practical Programming" + a Python interpreter, even if it ran on MS Windows, wouldn't be the ecosystem lock-in that a Microsoft cert is.
Next, Next, Finish (Score:2, Insightful)
And now you have a useless certificate falsely claiming that you know something about computers as a MSCE
The brilliant part is that Australia tax money will pay for this trash!