The Reasons I Prefer to Teach on a Mac

When you have been teaching for any length of time, you start to see the cyclical nature of education. Not just the new beginnings of September and the milestones of annual testing, but the longer scope. You begin to see how ideas in education come and go. Call them fads, or the “Next Big Thing,” some are by choice, and some are forced down your throat. I am a Macintosh person by choice, and now I am using a Mac for my “stuff,”and teaching my classes on PC’s. Not by choice.

I was not always an Apple person. Oh, they were around, I just didn’t use them. I started with the very first IBM PC’s. In fact, I bought one labeled as an AT&T that was actually made by Olivetti. I read the DOS 1.1 manual, and was so happy when they moved to DOS 2.0. It didn’t have the same hoopla as moving from Windows 3.1 to Windows ‘95, but it still was a big deal at the time. In those days, as is still the case today, schools would buy whatever they could afford. If Apple //e was cheaper, that was what they bought. If they had a grant from IBM, then it was PC’s. Nobody really worried too much about being compatible with a network or the internet because we didn’t have a network. In the beginning, you were an Apple person or IBM person based on what your school had. Not much has really changed in that regard.

Even when the IBM PC became the machine that every business had to have, schools were slow to change. Computers are a very large capital investment for a school. Not just in the hardware and software, but in the training. If your school’s computer person liked Apple, then they would push that with the school administration. If the computer person advised them that they needed this or that piece of hardware or software, that is usually what was purchased. School Principals and Superintendents tend to rely on their computer people for a lot of things. Administrators don’t have time to become experts on tech. Fortunately, Apple has always seemed to understand what we need in education and has maintained good relationships with schools. So, along we go... The crisis would come when the old computer guy left and the new computer guy came in.

One side benefit of the principal relying on the computer person is Innovation. The computer person could usually manage to get that new piece of hardware or software and try it out. Then they would show other people how to scan, or make banners, or print in color, or burn a cd, or video conference. Everybody liked to see students doing those high-tech things at Open House. Principals take good care of their computer people because they work hard and they keep the rest of the “herd” moving along in a forward direction, technology-wise.

The first and foremost reason I prefer to teach on a Macintosh has to do with that Innovation concept. I really believe Apple puts out a product that is innovative. I agree with Steve Jobs that the better computer and more elegant machine, is the one that is easiest to use. I like it when the process doesn’t interfere with the product. OS X Panther is wonderful!

You can’t talk about the platform issue and not touch on ease of use. I am mystified by those that claim Windows “is easier.” Obviously they are used to Windows and don’t really want to learn another way. Fine, I like what I know too. But, when you are trying to teach a classroom full of students a new concept, you want a streamlined interface and software that is intuitive. It is one thing to teach yourself something, it is another to teach a room full of people that same thing. Don’t believe me? Try teaching 16 year old students MS Access.

People are always telling me how great Microsoft Word is. I use it every day on both platforms. The Mac version is better. I teach it to high school kids, and to adults. Believe me, if you want to teach basic word-processing, Word has way more than you will ever need. Sure, they all eventually learn it, but the amount of time it takes to get twenty freshmen through making a newsletter is way more than it needs to be. Use a template? Okay, but then how do they learn how to make templates? Use MS Publisher or a wizard? It isn’t really a learned skill if somebody else does it for you. (and does it their way...) Give me AppleWorks any day!

Don’t be afraid to bust me for being a teacher who is about “me.” Yes, I admit it, I have an ego and I like it when my classroom runs my way. It has taken a long time for me ease over into letting students have more independence. It is a slow change from the John-Centric universe I used to have. The first step is admitting I have the problem...

When I was teaching in our junior high school, I had a lab of iMacs running OS 9.1. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t miss OS 9 at all, Panther has spoiled me. But one of the things I would do was troubleshoot problems in the building. I liked that fact that the Mac operating system is organized. Preferences go in one place, applications in another. Control panels and Inits in another. It was pretty straightforward to troubleshot problems because of that structure. I don’t find Windows to be that straightforward. I guess it is like cooking in someone else’s kitchen: You know they have what you need, you just don’t know where they keep it.

We often brag about the fact that our Macs don’t crash as often. Big deal. Shouldn’t I expect my computer to work? Is that asking too much? I use Panther and I find that my machine doesn’t crash. It just doesn’t. Frankly, the machines in my computer lab running Windows 2000 don’t crash much either. When they do, we just reboot. To me, the bigger thing to brag about is the “Kewl” factor. You should see the looks on my student’s faces when they come to my desk to check their grades on my 12 inch Powerbook G4. I keep lots of applications open at once, and I use Exposé to change between them. “Wow, that’s kewl!” (Kids don’t say “cool,” they say “kewl.” Personally, I don’t hear the subtle difference in inflection, but they seem to...) I like that my computer has aesthetic appeal. Thanks Apple Designers!

I read about viruses all the time. This worm, that spyware. Trojan horses, denial of service. “Mr. Nichols, Sasser got my computer this weekend!” I feel sorry for those people. Our school district uses a Windows Network. It is used for record keeping, attendance, grade reporting, and then all the academic classwork. We have spent tons of money fighting viruses, not just in software, but in the occasional downtime. I am always wishing for the old days when our network was Apple based. When there is a problem everything can come to a screeching halt. It doesn’t happen all the time, just when it is really inconvenient.

Macs just don’t have that problem, especially on OS X. I run Symantec’s Norton Antivirus because I hook up to our school network. The real reason is so that nobody can ever point the finger at me and say that I let a virus in because my machine wasn’t protected. But, in the last five years I have only ever had one virus reported. Norton killed it and told me about it. It came to me attached to a Word document. From a Windows User. From a school principal. I had a good chuckle about that.

How am I doing? Well, because I have given up a lot of responsibility for computer repairs to our Network Administrator, I have more time to do other things. I spend that time playing with all my OS X software and hardware. I get frustrated by Windows, but I am using it and I don’t get physically ill or anything. People still ask me for computer help and tease me that they will pry my Mac from my cold dead fingers... I often think I could do more if they were all on my platform, but I am getting over it. After all, the universe doesn’t revolve around me... anymore.