Students Punished for Personal Websites 9
"Earlier this year, a freshman at a Catholic high school in the suburbs of New York City was expelled because of the contents of a personal Web site he created at home."
The New York Times is running a good
story
(free reg. required)
on the latest "discipline issue": students daring to express themselves on websites and saying things their schools might not approve of. Includes a link to the
Student Press Law Center which
looks like a great resource for students in a jam.
Off campus behavior. (Score:2)
When I attended private schools back in the eighties, schools adhered to the guidelines they themselves had set down. (otherwise, I'd have been expelled numerous times for my antics) If the guideline makes no mention of punishment based on an individuals extra-curricular exercise of free speech, DON'T EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO CENSOR THE STUDENT!
At this point, the school is claiming 'We're not a public school; we don't have to respect free speech'. What muddies the water is that they recieve government funding, and are expected to adhere to the 'public school' rules or face revocation of funding.
I hope the school loses the lawsuit, has it's funding cut AND has to re-admit the student. Serves it right.
Plus, First post?
The decline of School Newspapers (Score:3)
One of the things I found most interesting in that article was the note about how many of the schools are creating their own problem by too-aggressive control of school newspapers.
it usta was ... that students had real outlets at school. Not so much any more. And when students actually display some adaptability (and initiative) by putting a website together ... explusion!
You'd think those school administrators would just try to grow up.
The Inquisition (what a show) (Score:2)
From the article, it sounds like this was not an issue of threatened violence. It was not even a matter of the student saying rude or inappropriate things about teachers, students, or school employees.
It was a matter of the student posting things on a web page that did not agree with "Catholic values". We of course were not told whether the student in question is Catholic, simply that he attends (attended) a private Catholic school. If he's not Catholic, do they have any reason at all for insisting he must share their thoughts and beliefs?
Schools exit to teach thinking skills. Reading, writing, mathematics, logic. There are rules to be followed- be courteous, no violence, perhaps a dress code. That list of rules should not include "you must either believe in or never speak against X."
Especially off-campus. What a student does outside of school hours and off school property, unless illegal, should have no bearing on that person's status as a student.
Heaven forbid someone have an opinion different from "The Church"... My god, the world could end if that happened! Individual thought is evil and must be stomped out!
*snort*
Re:The decline of School Newspapers (Score:3)
> how many of the schools are creating their own problem by too-aggressive
> control of school newspapers.
I actually ran into that problem when I was in high school -- nearly seven years ago -- and editing the school newspaper. We sold ads to offset the cost of printing (the school board didn't give us nearly enough funding) and had accepted an ad from Planned Parenthood that was, in my opinion, very tasteful and emphasized PP as a last resort -- that one should visit teachers, clergy, parents, etc. first. The school board tried to get us to pull it. Now, PP had been one of our staunchest advertisers for years, and they had a very expensive half-page ad contract for the full year, and we were
It took four phone calls to the Student Press Law Center, one to the ACLU, and a *lot* of conversations with the school board before they would back down. And for the rest of the year, they made it a point of trying to censor the paper whenever they could. We had an entire print run confiscated and burned one month.
And of course, since the entire editorial staff at that point was a bunch of hopeless liberals, myself included, that made us mad. And we started pushing the line as much as we could, purposely offending the administration in such a way that they could
By the end of the year, we were on first-name terms with one of the lawyers at the SPLC.
Looking back at it, we had a lot of fun that year. It was stressful, and annoying, and very aggrivating, but it taught us a lot of important lessons -- namely, that until you stand up for your rights, those rights can be slowly bled away from you. It was a very valuable experience for me -- but in the ideal world, it wouldn't have been necessary.
And if anyone had tried to
School rules (Score:1)
Ok, now about the website thing. Some schools/school officials will do anything to enforce a power they do not have. They want as much power as they can get and try to take power from you to get theirs. I would defenitely sue my school if they tried to do some crap like that do me. I sincerely hope that the guy that is suing the school gets them really good.
Malto
Re:The Inquisition (what a show) (Score:1)
Does this mean that Jesus doesn't save? That the church will rather lock out people who need to be saved, than to guide them away from their sins and into the light?
Or is it just yet another example of administration displaying authority by setting an example instead of sitting back and thinking of what signal they are sending out. What I read into this is that "our school is very unforgiving and will not accept sinners. We are a superior society, much better than the rest. We will not show your children our ways, but throw them out if we feel that they are not perfect enough for us."
Re:Off campus behavior. (Score:1)