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Students Banned from Blogging

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-for-your-own-protection dept.

wayward writes "Students at Pope John XIII, a Catholic high school, were told to take down their blogs from sites like Xanga and MySpace or face suspension. Rev. Kieran McHugh, the school's principal, said that he was trying to protect students from online predators. Not too surprisingly, free speech advocates got more than a little concerned.

5 of 876 comments (clear)

  1. Wait, wait, wait by Dan+Up+Baby · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Free speech advocates are concerned about the restriction of speech in a private high school? Shouldn't they be finishing up with China first?

  2. Re:Let me get this straight... by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    We may as well close this thread. You've said it all.

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  3. Re:Let me get this straight... by Kid+Zero · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Amen!

    I knew two schools in Louisville, KY. One, with nice, polite kids. Normal lives, the whole deal. The other was a girls school, and riding the bus home in the afternoons with them? Wow. Every cliche you could find in a Penthouse, they had in spades. Not in a good way, either. In that slimy, disgusting "no thanks, celibacy sounds great" way.

    Oh, yeah, there's no free speech in school. How they plan to enforce this off campus is worth hearing.

  4. wtfthat's my hs by ahrefd · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    that's my highschool!...my highschool made slashdot? my world just got alot smaller. yeah pj99

  5. Re:Constitutional protections.... by grimwell · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    /me shakes head in disbelief

    Your post is a troll. It is unsettling that your comment was rated "5: Informative".

    The Constitution in the law of the land. It reins supreme over Federal, State & Local law. The Constitution describes the structure of the government and what powers it has. It also lists important rights of the citizens. From this foundation comes Federal, State & Local law.

    Yes, the Judical branch of the US Government does get to review & approve/disapprove all school rules, employee handbooks and shopping mall rules. Maybe you heard of a little thing back in the 50's & 60's called the Civil Rights Movement? Maybe you heard of Rosa Parks? The Federal Government decided "rules" & laws enacted in the South weren't so hot.

    I think the following from the US Declaration of Independance needs repeating here...

    We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

    We don't have Free Speech because the First Amendment grants it to us, we have free speech because our creator gave it to us; one of many unalienable Rights.

    The First Amendment simply spells out this right of free speech, so the government or others wouldn't get "confused" and say we don't have that right. Indeed its the government duty to protect our rights. If our right to free speech is impedied, it is the goverment job to see our rights restored.

    --That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
    --
    If the govt becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law, it invites man to become his own law, it invites anarchy