Out of interest, how is it more educational? I had a fun time educating myself back in the day as I tried to get X to work with my video card. I jest!

In all truth I suspect there are millions of system administrators who have never even used 'Lye-nucks' so attempting to get students (who need support) to use Linux devices will probably never happen (unless the admin/IT staff is extremely pro-Linux) or the school wishes to spend money retraining their staff.