If there’s one thing I absolutely can’t stand, it’s brainwashing kids from an early age to indoctrinate them. Beyond politics and religion, this also happens through proprietary software, which is capitalism’s Trojan horse. Starting in kindergarten, we hand tablets to students so they can be spied on without a care, and it only gets worse from there.

The mechanism is well-oiled: Students learn on Office or other super expensive proprietary software, then they have a really hard time breaking free because the habits are deeply ingrained. For the GAFAM, it doesn’t cost them much since they get huge tax deductions when they donate hardware while ensuring a captive customer base from an early age. And multiplied by millions of students over several decades, the ROI is literally colossal. So this isn’t charity but a commercial strategy that turns public schools into free showrooms for multinationals that couldn’t care less about the common good.

Always that fallacious “I’ve got nothing to hide” argument

We naively believe it’s simple for everyone to understand and that it’s obviously clear, but I notice that when I talk about it outside free software networks, there’s always someone who throws back the famous “I’ve got nothing to hide” at me, as if I were a terrorist or a black hat simply because I categorically refuse to expose my private life online. Except that handing over your intimate life, your sex life, your professional life… on a silver platter to private companies isn’t exactly trivial. And it’s even more unacceptable when it concerns children.

Because it means filing them from the youngest age for advertising purposes today and political purposes tomorrow. This situation is all the more intolerable since AI in the hands of billionaires now allows managing this stolen data in an extremely refined and extremely rapid way. We’re no longer in the era of the little cookie slipped sneakily into your browser because we now live in an era where GAFAM literally read your emails and everything you post online.

Not to mention that with mobile phones, your texts, your contacts, and even your conversations can be spied on. Big Brother dreamed of it… Microsoft, Google, and Apple made it happen! And when we’re talking about children, the problem takes on an even more serious dimension because we’re literally building their digital profile before they’re even aware of what that implies. This data collected during childhood will follow them their entire lives, feeding algorithms that will influence their choices, their professional opportunities, and maybe even their access to certain services.

Imagine for a moment that a private company possesses your child’s entire digital school record. Like their grades, their interests, their classmates, their learning difficulties, their online searches, their health… Now imagine this data being resold, hacked, or used for purposes no one anticipated. Well, that’s exactly what’s happening right now in our schools and we think it’s normal because it’s free and convenient.

Free software genuinely prepares for professional future

Contrary to popular belief, free software prepares much better for the future than their proprietary equivalents. Networks run on Linux and serious companies are on Linux. So making free software mandatory in schools would also be an excellent thing for employment because our children could learn on the tools they’ll actually use in their professional lives and not on crippled versions of software whose licenses they’ll have to buy once they leave the education system when it serves no purpose.

Supercomputers also run on Linux, the majority of smartphones use Android which is based on Linux, and even Microsoft increasingly uses open source technologies in its own infrastructures. Training our children only on proprietary software is therefore cutting them off from the technological reality of the professional world and keeping them in an artificial bubble created by marketing strategies.

Moreover, learning on free software develops different and often deeper skills. Because when you use proprietary software, you’re forced to follow the path laid out by the publisher with no possibility of understanding what’s happening under the hood or adapting the tool to your needs. With free software, you have access to the source code, you can understand how it works, you can modify it if necessary, and above all you develop a critical mindset toward technology. So you’re no longer a simple passive consumer but an active user who understands their tools.

Turnkey educational Linux distributions: The technical solution already exists

Projects like Edubuntu already exist and prove it’s possible. But we could go much further by creating ready-to-use Linux distributions that would be specially designed for education. Imagine a distro adapted for 7-9 year olds with playful and colorful interfaces, preselected educational software like GCompris or Tux Paint, and ergonomics designed for children discovering computers. Another distribution for middle school with more advanced tools like LibreOffice Writer with integrated grammar checker, science software like Stellarium for astronomy or Avogadro for chemistry, and maybe even simplified programming environments like Scratch. Finally, a high school version with professional software like GIMP for graphics, Shotcut for video editing, Audacity for audio, and complete IDEs for those who want to learn programming seriously.

Teachers wouldn’t have to struggle since they’d easily install the distro and all the required software would already be in it, configured and ready to use. No command lines to enter, no missing dependencies to resolve, no complicated gadgets… Everything would be designed for educational use and would work directly on first startup. We could even include integrated video tutorials and documentation adapted to each age group’s level, with teaching guides for teachers who aren’t necessarily computer experts.

This approach by age groups would allow coherent progression throughout schooling where each level would build on what was learned before. A student who used Tux Paint in elementary school will have no trouble moving to GIMP in high school because the basic concepts will already be acquired. This pedagogical continuity is currently impossible with proprietary software that constantly changes interfaces and business models according to their publishers’ commercial strategies.

This could be done by giving resources to SMEs working in open source rather than to GAFAM who do nothing good for our digital independence. So we’re also talking about creating qualified jobs in our territory, developing local technical expertise, and taking back control of the computer tools used by our children. So rather than paying licenses that enrich shareholders, why not instead invest in local companies that create added value and pay their taxes normally? The question is asked.

Moreover, technically we’d be in the context of a large-scale operation. So not the same problem as developing a universal OS that has to run on any hardware. When you develop a general public distribution like Linux Mint, you have to ensure it works on thousands of different hardware configurations, which is a technical nightmare. But for an educational distribution intended to equip schools we can standardize the hardware. Which greatly simplifies development and maintenance. Therefore, the Education Department could define one or two reference computer models, negotiate wholesale prices with manufacturers, and ensure the distribution works perfectly on this specific hardware.

Touch tablets under Linux: An easily surmountable technical challenge

For tablets, it’s more complicated but very far from insurmountable. The main problem with tablets under Linux is that manufacturers develop their drivers for Android or iOS but very rarely for Linux. Which makes hardware integration difficult. However, it’s the same principle as for computers because we’d still be in the context of a large-scale operation with the Education Department as client.

It would be enough to go see a manufacturer and tell them: “Make us a tablet model that fits perfectly with a touch Linux, optimized for education, and we’ll order for example a million units to start.” Who’s going to refuse a huge hardware order placed by an administration? Especially since we’re talking about large orders over several years with regular fleet renewal. Such a market would make any manufacturer drool and we’d finally have free tablets, secure and respectful of our children’s privacy.

The manufacturer would have every interest in developing quality Linux drivers for their hardware since that’s the condition for landing the contract. We should even require that these drivers be open source to guarantee their sustainability and allow the community to improve them. Projects like the PineTab or Librem show it’s technically feasible but they unfortunately lack the leverage that a massive order would bring.

Imagine tablets specially designed for education with a touch interface adapted to children, preinstalled educational applications, centralized management for teachers who can push exercises or retrieve work, and above all no data collection by private companies. We could even integrate advanced features like the ability for students to modify the code of educational applications, transforming the tablet into a programming learning tool.

Local action by parents to move toward 100% free software

So, to improve the world we’ll launch a petition… No, I’m kidding, it’s useless! Strictly useless! Since when do politicians listen to the people when it comes to resisting multinational lobbies? GAFAM have armies of lawyers and lobbyists who spend their time influencing decision-makers. So our little online petition will end up in a drawer with the thousands of others we’ve already sent.

So each of us who’s sensitive to this problem needs to act locally at our level. Simply because it’s at the local level that you have real impact. So if you’re a parent, during school meetings, put this problem on the table and don’t let yourself be discouraged by initial reactions. Prepare your arguments, bring concrete examples, and show that solutions exist. Make small flyers and distribute them at school pickup to make other parents aware of the issue who may have surely never thought about it.

Because if a thousand of us do this to start, quickly we’ll be 10,000 and then 100,000. That’s how real changes happen. Not through grand declarations of intent from above. But rather through thousands of small local actions that progressively create irresistible pressure. When enough schools have parents asking the question, principals will be forced to look into the matter. Then academic inspectors and finally the ministry.

Don’t underestimate the impact of your individual action at all. Stay motivated, the free software community is behind you ready to support you. So organize information meetings in your neighborhood, invite members of free software associations to come explain the issues, and show demos of educational distributions. You can also propose organizing a free software workshop at your children’s school during an open house or school festival. Set up a few computers with an educational distribution, let the kids and parents test them. And you’ll see that many will be surprised to discover that free and powerful alternatives exist. Fear of change often comes from ignorance and a simple demonstration can break down a lot of prejudices. In any case, it’s more effective than staying in the abstract.

The crucial role of teachers in this transition

If you’re a teacher or in education, talk about it with your colleagues and propose free alternatives for digital tools used in class. Test Edubuntu or other educational distributions in your school. Even if it’s only on one or two computers at first. Show that it’s possible, that it works, and demonstrate that our students deserve better than being formatted from childhood to become captive clients of multinationals. Your role is essential because you’re on the front line and your concrete experience will be able to convince much more effectively than any theoretical speech.

Teachers have enormous power in this fight because they’re legitimate to talk about pedagogy and educational tools. Because when a parent says “we should use free software,” they can be told they don’t know the constraints of teaching. But when a teacher says it after having tested and validated the tools, it’s much harder to ignore. Moreover, teachers can pool their pedagogical resources among colleagues, create usage guides adapted to their discipline, and progressively build a knowledge base that will facilitate adoption by others.

So don’t hesitate to document your experience and share it on teacher forums or specialized sites. Explain what worked, the difficulties you encountered, and how you overcame them. These experience reports are precious for those who still hesitate to take the leap and they show that the transition to free software isn’t a jump into the unknown but a path already traveled by others.

You can also propose free software training during your school’s pedagogical days. Many teachers would be interested but don’t know where to start. A collective introduction can therefore remove many barriers. Show them they don’t need to be computer experts to use LibreOffice or LibreWolf and that these tools are often simpler and more stable than their proprietary equivalents.

The remarkable work of free software associations but lacking support

Alongside this, there are many free software associations doing tremendous work in the field. And we thank them infinitely for that! The problem is that these associations lack people and resources. But they still fight daily to train, raise awareness, and support schools that want to switch to free software.

Associations like Framasoft do extraordinary work with shoestring budgets. They organize install parties, conferences, workshops in schools, they develop pedagogical resources, and they advocate with institutions. But facing GAFAM’s marketing firepower, it’s David versus Goliath. When Microsoft can offer free licenses to all schools and send well-trained salespeople to every district, free software associations depend on volunteers who give their free time after their workday.

These associations would need public funding to professionalize their actions, hire full-time employees who could support schools over time, and develop quality resources. But strangely, the State prefers to pay for licenses rather than fully support local actors working for the transmission of values of mutual aid and sharing.

Act now to change our children’s future

There you go, this contribution is just an observation and sketches of solutions because we can no longer afford to wait for someone else to take care of this serious problem for us. So if you want things to move, please spread information about free software in your children’s school, even if you think it will only have limited impact. Join a free software association or create one with a few friends if there isn’t one near you because the movement needs local relays everywhere in the territory.

You’re a free software activist? Continue your fight because we need you. Now more than ever because the stakes of sovereignty, respect for privacy, and emancipation through technology have never been so crucial. Our children are growing up in a world where digital is omnipresent and it’s our responsibility to transmit to them the tools and knowledge so they can be its masters and not its slaves.

So, shall we get started? Because while we hesitate our children continue to be filed, their data continues to feed the profits of multinationals who have no scruples about exploiting them, and we’re building their dependence on proprietary tools a little more each day. In the end, sure time is working against us, but the solution is within reach if we finally decide to act collectively. So let’s take the time to talk about it, whether here or on Mastodon. Doesn’t matter, the important thing is just to motivate ourselves to actually make things move.

If you found this content useful, please take a few seconds to support us by buying us a coffee. We may be free, but we’re no less caught up with the reality that we need to cover the site’s costs. At the same time, we happily remind you that NovaFuture is an open project and you’re welcome to participate in a spirit of self-management. To have maximum impact, the project lacks everything: graphic designers, writers, coders, translators, communication help… So we’re exhausting ourselves and it’s not easy every day. But don’t worry, we’re hanging in there! On the other hand, we don’t lack readers or good spirits. So if the adventure motivates you, you just need to find the place that suits you and participate at your own pace. Meanwhile, also please think about sharing this contribution widely around you to help make free digital in schools become obvious to everyone. And stay tuned because this is a topic we’re going to keep pushing very hard. See you very soon for new adventures in the world of open source.