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[NC] Newz Crew Featured Discussion – US School District to Punish Students for Web Postings

In collaboration with the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Global Kids has launched Newz Crew, a site where teens from around the world engage in rich online dialogues related to current events, public policy issues and digital media.

Below is a featured discussion from current dialogues happening on the site. Check it out!

This feature is taken from Newz Crew, Group 73: US School District to Punish Students for Web Postings!.

What do you think? Is the school district overstepping its authority by regulating what students post to the internet away from school? Who should be responsible for teenagers who recklessly use the internet?

Benji 11:26am May 29, 2006 EST
This seems quite like the district is overstepping its authority. I think that what happens outside of school should stay outside of school, especially when actions that should be at your own discretion go on your permanent record...

This just doesn't seem...practical.
us wolves are right behind you 01:50pm May 29, 2006 EST
Some cheek, if it's anybody's job to punish people for pictures of illegal activities it's the polices. This said my school said they'll punish us for wearing our uniform incorrectly outside school... same thing really.
lovedose 02:14pm May 29, 2006 EST
I think the school district is overstepping its boundary. what ever students want to post on the net is totally their business. the used of laws is getting out of hand and it need to be checked.
Marilyn 02:40pm May 29, 2006 EST
At my school people talk about taking part all kinds of illegal activities (mostly drinking), during class (out of a teacher's hearing). It seems to me that they should be more concerned with what goes on in school before they start on what you say outside of it. Why are they spending time looking for internet postings?
sushiqueen 03:06pm May 29, 2006 EST
It's not the schools responsibility for how students use the internet out of school hours. Sure it would be if it was done at school, during school hours, but out of that time, there's no need to monitor their behaviour, its the parents job.
AZERT_Resurrected 07:15pm May 29, 2006 EST
Exactly the school is not the police.
conveyed 04:22am May 30, 2006 EST
I think lawmakers are sending contradicting messages on this subject.

I think lawmakers are being ambiguous on this issue because musicians and moviemakers make references to elicit activities all the time and they aren't prosecuted for it. Why should the rules not apply for them, but apply for us?

Obviously that doesn't make it right or wrong, but to be perfectly honest I don't have much of an opinon on this subject other than if the government wants to enfoce this, it should do it across the board and if it doesn't, it should leave us teenagers alone.

Also, if a friend of mine who is the same age as me wanted to post pictures of himself with bottles of beer in his hand and say that he does drink on his profile (I'm talking about myspace) and that sort of thing, we all will pretty much know that he DOES drink, but it is feasible that he's just putting on an act and trying to look like he's breaking the law when he really isn't.
Benji 11:41am May 30, 2006 EST
Of course. I think that the article said that monitoring a student's presence on the internet would be a stipulation of joining any extra curricular activities. It just doesn't seem relevant, or even productive.
us wolves are right behind you 12:53pm May 30, 2006 EST
Odd, I suppose the skewed thinking was that it was condoning illegal activities and shouldn't be done. Frankly I think the internet is the one place laws should only play a small part with (missuse to deliver viruses, hackers, child porn etc.) and as such drinking beer or smoking underage shouldn't really be punishable. And of course as you say staging pictures exist. as does photoshop. So you can't really convict people with a couple of pictures off the internet.

I don't think interneting is an extra-curricular activity either.

Posted by joyce on July 10, 2006 12:39 AM |

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