Cyber bullying, freespeech, home computer use article [telecom]

MSNBC has an article on cyberbullying rules vs. free speech. It also deals with schools responding to statements made on home computers independent of school networks.

Please see:

formatting link

***** Moderator's Note *****

Having attended a parochial school, I can attest to the sad truth that too many educators fall into the trap of demanding that students think, not for themselves, but only in prescribed and approved wayss, and never of proscribed or inconvenient subjects.

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

Please put [Telecom] at the end of your subject line, or I may never see your post! Thanks!

We have a new address for email submissions: telecomdigestmoderator atsign telecom-digest.org. This is only for those who submit posts via email: if you use a newsreader or a web interface to contribute to the digest, you don't need to change anything.

Reply to
hancock4
Loading thread data ...

My public high school had many kids who attended parochial school. They often wrote negative essays about their experiences, which in those days included physical punishment. Questioning the nuns was not tolerated. However, in college we also had many kids from parochial schools and they were very well prepared for college studies. (While my college was non-sectarian, it had an informal relationship with the Church and welcomed and encouraged students from area parochial schools.)

As to freedom of speech for youth, my own opinion is that it depends on the ownership. The school 'owns' the student newspaper and as such the school is the publisher and has a legitimate veto power over anything in the paper, just as the owner of a regular newspaper can veto any submitted article. The same would apply to computer networks administered by the school.

As to off-school publications, that is different. If a kid prints up a leaflet at his own expense and distributes it off school grounds (say at the corner of the school), then the kid has a right of free speech, subject to the same limtiations of libel/slander/obscenity/ yell fire in a crowded theatre that other publications must comply with.

Likewise with off-school computer networks. While I don't like teen bullying and know it can be extremely viscious and devastating, private networks are private and I don't think the school should have say whatsoever on what is said.

HOWEVER, such networks should be subject to the same libel/slander/ obscenity/yell fire laws of other publications. If one kid posts nasty slanderous stuff about another kid, the victim should have a right to sue for slander/libel. That means the host of the network has to provide the real identity of the posters and take reasonable steps to insure it's the real person. Otherwise, the network ought to be responsible; after the all, the network is providing the forum for the abuse to take place. (I don't buy the 'post a note on a tree in the park' theory of immunity.)

I think a big motivation of schools to interfere with private networks is the lack of control these networks have, and that IS a legitimate concern.

***** Moderator's Note *****

It's much easier to say "No" than it is to say "It's OK, provided ...". Public and parochial schools both have an obligation to teach their students how to complain about what irks them: with respect, without name calling, and in the open. I don't think people should be encouraged to put a note on a tree, but I _do_ feel that they should be entitled to take a soapbox to the park and stand up and say what's on their minds.

The best cure for rumor and gossip is, as they say, fresh air. Does the high school principle dislike criticism? The students are allowed to point it out. Does the math teacher disdain calculators? The student should (pun intended) call her to account. Does the Board of Selectmen underfund the school and force parents to pay for pens, pencils, paper, and even books? A student who calls that sort of cheating "shortsighted", "reckless", or "criminal" is exercising his rights.

It goes without saying that children need limits and direction, but too many parents have neglected this disdainful task and have allowed their offspring to get their view of the world from television, where all problems are solved in sixty minutes with time out for commercials, where the tall white guy makes all the decisions, and where guns are an accepted means of solving disagreements. We all know that that is wrong, but very few are willing to step forward and declare their view of what is right.

In a perfect world, the Parent Teacher Associations would be a vehicle for the parents and the teachers to talk frankly about, and hopefully agree on, a standard of behavior that all children could be expected to follow in the community where they live. The problem is that we've all gotten so scared of criticism that we've forgotten that such a moral baseline is needed, indeed essential. Educators have been forced to promulgate rules about off-campus behavior because parents are either too busy, or too lazy, to tell junior to stop behaving like a spoiled brat.

Children are left without guidance, without standards, without discipline, and bullying and gangs and pitiable academic performance are the result. _SOMEONE_ has to say *ENOUGH!*, and you and I have allowed public servants and private school employees to take on that task.

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

Please put [Telecom] at the end of your subject line, or I may never see your post! Thanks!

We have a new address for email submissions: telecomdigestmoderator atsign telecom-digest.org. This is only for those who submit posts via email: if you use a newsreader or a web interface to contribute to the digest, you don't need to change anything.

Reply to
hancock4

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.