[OS X TeX] Getting students to use LaTeX (and apa.cls)

[David R. Derbes]

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006, Jens Noeckel wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I've also been interested in this topic for a while, and wanted to add one 
> more point: once people start using Word for serious work, it gets 
> increasingly hard to make them switch because Word simply doesn't export to 
> any other format that preserves all the content (including math formulas and 
> graphics). This means porting your magnum opus back to LaTeX is a huge 
> investment of time and effort once you've typed it in Word. Although it is 
> clear to most people that writing is a fundamental activity which shouldn't 
> cost money, inertia keeps them in the Word environment until the cost and 
> upgrade hassles of Word start to become more painful than the hassles of 
> switching.
>
> So you either have to get people to use non-Word editors really early on (I'm 
> talking High School), or come up with an easy way to do the switch.

I am a high school physics teacher. I used to use WordPerfect exclusively 
(even on my Mac), but in the past year nearly everything the kids have 
gotten from me has been LaTeX. A few of the more serious geeks are 
teaching themselves how to use LaTeX. There's a large cool factor 
that should not be discounted. And, you can't beat the price!

<snip>

> Jens

David Derbes
U of Chicago Lab Schools

>
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