School requires registering e-readers

[Conan71]

If you don't like the idea of your personal rights being violated then don't walk off your property, otherwise, don't complain when they give you a cavity search for walking down the street.  

You could also use the same idea to allow the school to promote a religion.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make with that but consider that you waive certain rights when you walk into a courthouse or an airport as well.  I've not heard you complain about that before. 

Isn't prohibiting use of a cell phone in a court room restricting your First Amendment rights?

Isn't prohibiting you bringing your gun into the courthouse or airport restricting your Second Amendment rights?

What about the possibility of illegal search and seizure when you go through a check point?

Your Constitutional rights are your rights.  However, there are restrictions on those rights to prevent your exercise of those rights from harming someone else or depriving them of their liberty.  Your Constitutional rights are not without conditions and restrictions.

Don't take it personal, but I'm far more concerned about how good the learning environment is for my child than I am her Constitutional rights if she's studying in a public school.  If she's allowed to diddle on her smart phone all day because someone is afraid of violating her Constitutional rights, that's a problem and a failure of the educational process.

[nathanm]

Your Constitutional rights are your rights.  However, there are restrictions on those rights to prevent your exercise of those rights from harming someone else or depriving them of their liberty.

Harm is a pretty low bar. It could be argued that the insults we sometimes hurl around here rise to that level on occasion.

[Conan71]

Harm is a pretty low bar. It could be argued that the insults we sometimes hurl around here rise to that level on occasion.

What do you mean donkey wipe?

[custosnox]

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make with that but consider that you waive certain rights when you walk into a courthouse or an airport as well.  I've not heard you complain about that before.  

Isn't prohibiting use of a cell phone in a court room restricting your First Amendment rights?

Isn't prohibiting you bringing your gun into the courthouse or airport restricting your Second Amendment rights?

What about the possibility of illegal search and seizure when you go through a check point?

Your Constitutional rights are your rights.  However, there are restrictions on those rights to prevent your exercise of those rights from harming someone else or depriving them of their liberty.  Your Constitutional rights are not without conditions and restrictions.

Don't take it personal, but I'm far more concerned about how good the learning environment is for my child than I am her Constitutional rights if she's studying in a public school.  If she's allowed to diddle on her smart phone all day because someone is afraid of violating her Constitutional rights, that's a problem and a failure of the educational process.

Actually, I do complain about those illegal searches.  The only reason I don't end up going to jail every time I try to board a plane is because I need to arrive at my destination because of a commitment made.  
Beyond that, how does what a student reads harm someone else or deprive them from their liberty?  And teachers have been able to deal with students not paying attention or disrupting class for a very long time without needing to resort to snooping.

[Conan71]

Actually, I do complain about those illegal searches.  The only reason I don't end up going to jail every time I try to board a plane is because I need to arrive at my destination because of a commitment made.  
Beyond that, how does what a student reads harm someone else or deprive them from their liberty?  And teachers have been able to deal with students not paying attention or disrupting class for a very long time without needing to resort to snooping.

It's not a distraction so long as they keep it to themselves.  The kid showing pictures from Monster Jam to his classmates during a math test is obviously a distraction.

As far as having personal reading items on a pad or phone, your child is at school to learn their curricula, not read Seventeen magazine on the interwebz 

[Townsend]

As far as having personal reading items on a pad or phone, your child is at school to learn their curricula, not read Seventeen magazine on the interwebz 

If "intelligent design" has made it into the classroom, Seventeen Magazine may be the brighter way to go.

[heironymouspasparagus]

never did anything for me.  It's all about a kids perception of things.  I ended up dropping out of high school a couple of months into my sophomore year.  While I had a number of my own problems, the school never had a way to engage someone like me.  Now that I'm older and returning to school with the desire to succeed (I'm super pissed at myself right now because it doesn't look like I'll be pulling off an A in Japanese and thus killing my 4.0), I find ways to stay engaged.  I actually surf the web while in geology because otherwise I would pass out during the lectures.  At least this way I stay awake and somewhat aware of what is going on in the class.  I also take notes on my computer, so it justifies me having it out.  Of course, if I was causing a disruption with it in class I would be expected to put it away, if that didn't work, then I would be removed from class.  No confiscation, no digging through my files to see what I'm doing with it.

Audit the class.  Don't take a grade you don't want.  Stick around to learn all you can, then repeat next semester and ace it.

[heironymouspasparagus]

If "intelligent design" has made it into the classroom, Seventeen Magazine may be the brighter way to go.

Much smarter.

[Red Arrow]

Audit the class.  Don't take a grade you don't want.  Stick around to learn all you can, then repeat next semester and ace it.

8 year full time student Bachelor's program?

[custosnox]

It's not a distraction so long as they keep it to themselves.  The kid showing pictures from Monster Jam to his classmates during a math test is obviously a distraction.

As far as having personal reading items on a pad or phone, your child is at school to learn their curricula, not read Seventeen magazine on the interwebz 

So when they have some free time they shouldn't be allowed to have personal things to read?

[custosnox]

Audit the class.  Don't take a grade you don't want.  Stick around to learn all you can, then repeat next semester and ace it.

would screw up my financial aid. 

[Conan71]

So when they have some free time they shouldn't be allowed to have personal things to read?

"Nah! Vee must keep zer nozes to zee gliiindztone!"

[custosnox]

"Nah! Vee must keep zer nozes to zee gliiindztone!"

Was that an obscure Godwin?

[patric]

Surely this wouldn't be a reason administrators dont want children in classrooms with digital devices:



The father of a 10-year-old autistic boy in Cherry Hill, N.J., has posted a series of secretly recorded audio clips of school administrators bullying his son to YouTube.

Stuart Chaifetz, the father of 10-year-old Akian, obtained the recordings by dressing his son with a hidden recording device. Chaifetz said the idea to wire his son first came to him after receiving reports from his son's school that Akian was acting out and being violent -- something out of character for the otherwise "wonderful and happy child."

After months of meetings with school officials failed to explain his son's supposed violent outbursts, Chaifetz decided he had to know what was going on during the school day.

"I realized I needed to know what was happening in that class," said Chaifetz in an online video introduction to the YouTube recordings.

On Feb. 17, Chaifetz wired his son with a hidden recorder before sending him to school. When his son returned, Chaifetz discovered hours of audio documenting bullying and verbal abuse by school officials.

"That night, my life changed forever," said Chaifetz. "What I heard was so disgusting and vile. It happened not by other children, but by his teacher and the aides, the people who were supposed to protect him. They were literally making my son's life a living hell."

The recordings contain clips of the teacher and teacher's aide shouting at his son, yelling at him to "Shut up!" and calling him a "bastard." The recordings also catch the teacher's aides having inappropriate conversations about drinking alcohol the night before and complaining about their spouses and other parents.

Chaifetz shared the recordings with school officials. The district superintendent responded in a statement saying that "the individuals who are heard on the recording raising their voices and inappropriately addressing children no longer work in the district."

Chaifetz is now calling for a public apology by the teacher, teacher's aide and school administrators. Only the teacher's aide has been fired, said Chaifetz. Akian's teacher has been moved to another classroom.

This is not the first case of parents of children with disabilities using recording technology to investigate suspected cases of bullying and abuse in the classroom. Since 2003 there have been at least nine similar cases across the U.S.

It's a practice that comes recommended by Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association.

"If a parent has any reason at all to suggest a child is being abused or mistreated, I strongly recommend that they do the same thing," she said to The Associated Press.

But critics of the practice say that the privacy rights of the other children must also be considered.

George Giuliani, executive director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers and director of special education at Hofstra University, says that while evidence of the mistreatment of children is disturbing, secret recordings are not the answer.

"We have to be careful that we're not sending our children in wired without knowing the legal issues," Giuliani said to The Associated Press.

Chaifetz says that since making the recordings public, he has received thousands of emails, many from parents asking for advice about how to similarly wire their own children.

He advises them on how to do it, but always warns them: "Make sure it's legal in your state."

Chaifetz hopes that with more parents taking such actions, educators will think twice about mistreating students who cannot speak up for themselves.

"For the tiny percentage of teachers that do it, I hope that they live in fear every day that a kid's going to walk in with a recorder," he said.

[heironymouspasparagus]

would screw up my financial aid. 

Gomennasai.