Catholic School Principal To Students: Thou Shalt Not Blog
This is an article about a principal of a private Catholic high school telling the student body that they are to take down their blogs and myspace profiles because of safety concerns (and, probably, concerns about the school's online reputation).
This upsets me! What gives that principal the authority to tell the students what they can do on their own time, away from school property? If he wants to ban them from using their blogs on school time, then fine. If they are not allowed to talk about their school, that's fine too. Aside from those school-related things, why tell them how to express themselves? I think once you reach a certain age, certainly high school age, you should be seen as a person who has the ability to make his or her own decisions. That includes the decision to start a blog! Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that free speech begins at 18.
I think this is a decision that should be left to the parents, and even then I think it should be the student's decision to start the blog or myspace profile. There's a huge difference between guidance of what kind of information the student gives out and their ability to communicate at all. As long as the students are not giving out personal information or saying anything libelous or illegal, I don't see any problem with the students expressing their opinions and feelings online. Policies like this just tell the students they're less than a whole person and that they have no freedoms simply because they haven't reached an arbitrary age that supposedly makes them an "adult."
As for safety concerns, students are just as likely to be abducted walking home from school as they are meeting someone online. I say give the students guidance so they can blog responsibly, instead of telling them they cannot blog because they're not a certain age.
That's just how I feel. If you have an argument for the policy, I'd like to hear it as long as you're respectful of my opinion on the matter.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
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3 comments:
No argument from me. You said it all and you said it well. I agree whole heartedly. It's up to the parents and children what they do off school grounds and on their own private home computers. Schools should stick to educating and let parents get on with parenting.
no argument here either. although I don't see how they could know whether you deleted your myspace profile anyway since they're mostly anonymous. And even if they know a student's blog URL, the student could easily start up a new one so I don't see why they're even bothering to try to stop them!
Hear! Hear! I agree with you 100%! I've always allowed my children the freedom to do as they wish online. My youngest has had websites since he was 10! I was the one who encouraged him to le about his age to get them. Children are not as stupid as most people seem to think that they are. It is time for the violation of their rights to STOP!
Sorry for ranting...
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