Catholic School Principal: Thou Shalt Not Blog...
Free speech, whats that? A catholic school in NJ has made it expullutionary effence to blog. They say it to protect the students from online predators, but at what cost? This is a direct violation of each students 1st ammendment rights. I hope that the students ban together and stand up for their rights.
Added 10/27/2005
In light of my misunderstanding of the limits of the first ammendment and thinking about the problem at hand i would like to add a few things. The reson for the school to ban blog was to protect them from internet predators. Like most plans it was a good intention with poor implementation. To truly protect someone you should educate them, not shelter them reality. If you a school you have all the opputunity to educate your students about internet safety.
If the students were spread rumors and general liable comments it is another problem all together. I have been in a similar situation. When i was working at the Apple Store over the summer I was prohibited from taking part of any online message baords that related to Apple. Being caught was groudns for termination. While at work i was prohibited from viewing such sites as well. But during my own time i was allowed to READ the sites. I knew all this before i began work.
My point is that if the principle wanted to stop rumors and false statements that defamed the school or members of the faculty or staff then say that. Do not put a blanket ban on all blogs. Doing what he did spawned lots of backlash about his motives.
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1 Comments:
Please spend a little time with the constitution. The first amendment says,
"Congress shall make no law .. abridging the freedom of speech..."
This says that the Congress, you know, the guys and gals in D.C., big building with a dome, those folks; they can't pass a law which limits your ability to speak. Oh yeah, until the latest campaign reform laws, that prohibit you from taking out an ad in some period of time before an election that mentions a candidate. Let's skip that for now. Then if you have a bit of Constitutional scholarship you'll point out that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the 1st. Meaning that the guys and gals in your state government also are held to the prohibitions of most of the Bill of Rights.
Since we see that the first amendment applies to congress, which one of their 'rights' is being violated? I didn't see the, "adults can't tell them what to do" amendment.
So what you are hoping the students stand up for isn't the freedom of the students to blog; you're demanding that there be no repercussions if they do. Welcome to the desert of the Real World. You can do a lot of things which are completely legal and still face repercussions. You can own and view pornography, which is legal, but your girlfriend might dump you. You can fly to Amsterdam to smoke pot, which is legal (sort-of), and you can be fired if you fail your employer's random drug testing. You can smoke cigarettes, which is legal, and you can be dropped by your insurance company.
Not every door in the world is open to you at all times. Opening some doors necessarily closes others. These students have two mutually exclusive options, attend this particular school, or blog. They can spew information all over the 'net, or they can get a damn fine education. Which choice is the more responsible one to make?
1:22 PM
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