Don't even think about going to the teachers (Score 1)

I had the exact same problem. And, unless you are *extremely* lucky and have a teacher who knows Unix/Linux don't even try to convince them. Instead, it is much easier to go looking around your school for other students who know are interested in Unix/Linux and then go to the administration about starting a club. A mini-LUG if you will.

-Coolhand has gotten so bored as to program a 1500 line Operating System in Q Basic during Computer Programming I