@fosslinux Reading this over again, I wonder about your : "my continued use of linux at school is in danger". Do you have static workstations there that will become Win-only ? Or are you using Linux now on a laptop ? I get the impression that Windows users often are Windows user because of their comfort zone. They like to stick with the little they have learned, and "get things done" in the way they know about. With Linux there comes variety, freedom, new and different challenges and ... new adventures. You could point to the Four Freedoms of free software. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html
And one of the reasons I really liked using Linux in the beginning was the personal approach. A DOS or Windows install used to be cold and boring. Booting up and installing Linux gave so much more information and human "signs of life". And I still can't stop laughing about jokes like this :
"No. That's it. The cool name, that is. We worked very hard on creating a name that would appeal to the majority of people, and it certainly paid off: thousands of people are using linux just to be able to say "OS/2? Hah. I've got Linux. What a cool name". 386BSD made the mistake of putting a lot of numbers and weird abbreviations into the name, and is scaring away a lot of people just because it sounds too technical."
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds#1991-94

!listening Les Négresses Vertes - La Bodega http://qttr.at/1yyn #1991