twistedlibrarian writes “GREENWOOD, Ark. — A federal judge has ruled in favor of two honor students suspended over the content of Web pages that drew a parent’s protest because of the way they depicted athletes and band members.
The judge ordered that no record of the suspensions linger in the students’ records — and ordered administrators to never mention that the pair had once been wrongly suspended.
Well…
I’m not sure what the site depicted as far as athletes and band members go, but since I was a geek outcast in high school I think I have a pretty fair idea what was said.
(old man’s voice kicks in)
Back in my day we didn’t have the world wide web for our ranting and raving purposes. All we had were old fashioned local BBSes. Though, at least with a BBS, usually only geeks like me logged on. Add to that the fact that it was almost a requirement for the sysop to be a geek and you had yourself a digital safe haven to bitch about your school life. Jocks didn’t log into BBSes because that’s something only geeks do.
Now with the world wide web, we have a place everyone can go. That’s nice because everyone has access. It’s also bad… because everyone has access. Getting on a website is far easier than logging into a BBS. So now, when a geek rants about some dumbass jock who shoved him/her around, everyone can see it.
I remember being involved in a couple fights in school. The reason both incidents came to blows stemmed from the school administration’s complete impotence in dealing with bullying problems. They told me to work it out on my own and that I was supposed to act like an adult. So I did, then they tried to make out like I was in trouble. My parents and I explained to them that adults, when shoved and kicked and punched, are allowed to fight back and brought up the possibilty of a lawsuit. They backed off their bullshit claims.
Looking back at my school life where; for a time, I was the fat kid and, for all of it, I was the geek; I have no questions in my mind why outcasts bring guns to school and shoot people. Even when I was in school you could get in trouble and face suspension for defending yourself in a fight. But never mind administration’s lack of attention. It was obvious to even the casual observer how much they didn’t care. It’s not their problem until you make it their problem.
Now we live in an age where you can get expelled for saying things like “That guy pushes me around all week. I wish he was dead.” Hell, I wished a lot of people were dead when I was in school. Even today, there’s one special asshole that, if I ever see him again I intend to remind him who I am and who I was and then proceed to beat the ever loving shit out of him. Jail or not, I’ll enjoy every minute of it.
I’m German, and we hold grudges. And please don’t give me that drek about “that’ll make you as bad as he is.” Some people deserve what comes to them, and if I’m an agent of karma, so be it.
Bottom line, as long as school administrators are so tuned out of the realities of bullying that they suspend both parties in a fight no matter the circumstances, then kids are going to find other ways to lash out. At least these two chose the web instead of a club, knife, or gun.
Re:Well…
Amen brother. Except in my day, we didn’t even have BBSes. You just swallowed your pride and kept your head down. I remember in Jr. High having to see a counselor because I seemd to be upset all the time. Imagine that. Not that they ever did anything to the thugs. Especially if they were the darlings of the athletic teams. Hmmm… there seems to be some residual bitterness left.
Re:Well…
Not that they ever did anything to the thugs.
You know, I learned pretty quickly that a bully is usually better dealt with by one shot with a Master Lock to the back of his head than a thousand visits to the office seeking help. And that was the sad thing, not only did I have to fight back I pretty much had to prove that I was willing to go that one step beyond the bully.
The Master Lock incident is true. During my school days there was a right bastard who’d pick on me in the locker room. He’d shove me into lockers and put me in headlocks and stuff like that. I tried and tried to get the teachers to do something about it, but to no avail. One teacher actually told the bully to “Just knock it off or the little guy will go nuts on you.”
Interesting idea, I thought.
The next time he did it he put me in a headlock and taunted me. When I finally got him to let go, he swaggered away like some big tough guy. I picked up my lock and walked up behind him and smashed him over the head with it. He went down on his knee and I kicked him in the back. Then I got on top of him and raised the lock again. By now his friends are looking to get involved but they changed their minds when I told them quite clearly, and in language they understood, that I would happily smash this dude’s head in. Then I explained to him that he may beat me up later, but he’d have to turn his back sometime. And then next time I wouldn’t stop with just one shot. I’d keep beating him until I got tired or until he died.
I had to threaten someone’s life, because teachers and administrators failed to protect kids like me. If we’re to blame school violence and bullying on anyone, start with the admins.
yup
Unjustly taking those kids’ property rights away from them is something those school administrators shouldn’t have tried.
And civilly, they (or the school system) should be paying for it as well.
Schools do not control the speech of the students offsite, nor can they fully control what students may say or publish on-site, either.
— Ender, Duke_of_URL
Re:yup
My fervent hope is that standards like this get applied to the working world as well.
I think it’s just as wrong to discipline or fire someone because they said something on their blog about their work life as it is to punish a student for something they say online.
Before blogs there were journals and friends. I don’t know about everyone else, but I put in 40 hours a week at my job. Do the math, and you’ll find that almost a quarter of my week is spent at work, as is anyone putting in 40 hours. Consequently, that makes my work life a large part of my overall existence. So… of course I’m going to talk about it somewhere. Just before now, people would talk about work with friends, family, or write it in their journals. Looking back at the blog explosion, I have no idea why it took so long for someone to regularly start publishing an online diary.
Blogs not only become an outlet for the writer, they become an outlet for the reader. I look at several librarian blogs and, when they bitch about their jobs, I sit there and sympathize. I can understand what somone’s talking about when they complain a book order went to hell or a patron got in their face. I begin to feel better that I’m not the only schmuck out there who deals with bitchy patrons. Blogs are replaceing the water cooler.
So to fire someone because they bitched about their job on their blog seems like a violation of free speech. I should be able to say whatever the hell I want about my job on my blog, as long as I’m not giving away confidential information, slandering or libeling, or any other illegal activities. Calling a patron a dumbshit isn’t illegal. Calling him by name, then calling him a dumbshit probably is. Calling him by name, then calling him a dumbshit, and then giving out his address that you got off their record- yeah, that’s definitely illegal. But what’s wrong about bitching about some AP who got in your face, had a tantrum, and made an ass out of themselves in a public building?
Not a damn thing as far as I can see.
Blog explosion?
I was publishing stuff in ’95/’96.
Didn’t mean it got big then.
>Calling him by name, then calling him a dumbshit probably is.
Should not be. If you’re going to be dumb, you should be called on it. Just because the facts aren’t pleasant doesn’t mean publication should be prescribed.
>Calling him by name, then calling him a dumbshit, and then giving out his address that you got off their record- yeah, that’s definitely illegal.
Only because you used his library record to get it. You should go to the phone-book, or other public records.
— Ender, Duke_of_URL