[thomastjeffery]

In an IT-related class I had in High School, part of the course was a lesson in ethics.

Part of the "lesson" taught that if you have a good/unique idea, you should patent it, lest someone else get the value from it before you do, and that you should keep your software closed-source lest someone pirate it.

There was no voice for free software or against the absurdity of software patents outside my own vocal retorts.

This was part of a district-wide course, and probably contained popular ideas used by many other districts.

Another thing I see in schools/colleges is that Microsoft will give free licenses to the school and students for their software so long as it is used and taught. Free software takes a backseat, and people are taught to use - and prefer - Microsoft's proprietary tools. Microsoft gets to control their target audience, and be seen as doing something generous, not abusive.