Standard Mischief

A Principal at a Catholic high school in Sparta, New Jersey has issued a new rule to students, No blogging allowed.

He claims “it’s for the children”. Gee, isn’t that line getting a little old?

Of course, the real reason is because such blogs are beyond the reach of school administrators.

I’m having trouble with even a private school punishing students for what they do in their off time from school. Punishing someone when they get to school because their homework is not finished is one thing, punishing them because they were critical of the teachers or other students is another.

I believe you are teaching censorship, and are discouraging creative thought from your students.

In Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1998), those supremes ruled that a school sponsored newspaper that was not actively promoted as a forum for student expression, could be censured. Civil libertarians suggested that students print their own paper, paid out of their own funds, to circumvent any censorship. Fast forward to today, when the cost of publishing on the web has dropped down to just student time and effort, and we see that some principals want to regulate that also.

According to the Record, some students had posted derogatory comments about the school in their online profiles. The paper quoted one parent, who had never heard of MySpace, praising the policy, saying that it fit with the reason she sent her kids to the private school. “They take the safety of the child into consideration first,” said Mary Kaye Nardone, mother of two Pope John students.

In other words, this clueless mother bought the “if it saves just one child” BS, hook, line, and sinker.

A constitutional law expert told the Record that a case could be made that the school added the new restriction after families had already signed a contract with the school for the year. “I think it’s a bad idea and I think it’s probably illegal - I think the students have some rights,” said Rutgers University Professor Frank Askin, director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic. Askin said he was not aware of any similar case, but added that there is no clear First Amendment violation because the school is a private, not government, entity.

A very good point, but I think there are limits to what rights one or one’s parents could sign away in a contract.

I would like to suggest to those affected students that your standard mischief ought to be to start blogging anonymously. Be hypercritical of your school administration and its policies. Feel free to link back here, I’d be happy to promote and read your blog.

(via BlogsNow)