In this case they are an appliance, the hardware is owned by the school and user accounts are managed through them. Those taking an interest in coding could be given access to a Linux VM with an IDE and compiler, they don't need ring 0 access to the computer they're currently using to learn to code. Given these computers often change hands between students, it would actually be somewhat dangerous to allow one of those students to, say, install a rootkit.
Once the school (or any other org) is done with them I'm all for removing all locks on the hardware so it has a fighting chance of staying out of landfill.
Once the school (or any other org) is done with them I'm all for removing all locks on the hardware so it has a fighting chance of staying out of landfill.