Catholic School Principal To Students: Thou Shalt Not Blog

[FreedomAngel82]

I thought this was a bit outrageous.

Link: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1512215/20051025/index.jhtml?headlines=true

Snip: <Students can be suspended for a lot of odd reasons these days — wearing "objectionable" T-shirts, cross-dressing for prom, planning elaborate senior pranks — but a principal at a Catholic high school in Sparta, New Jersey, has added another offense to the list: having a blog. The Reverend Kieran McHugh stunned the 900 students of the private Pope John XXIII Regional High School at a recent assembly when he told them that, effective immediately, they would have to dismantle their personal pages on sites such as MySpace.com and Xanga.com and any other blogs, or face suspension.

McHugh said he was taking the unusual measure to protect students from online sexual predators who may be lurking in cyberspace looking for personal information on children, including their pictures, diaries and gossip, according to a report in New Jersey's The Daily Record newspaper.

Many of the students were reportedly outraged at the school's attempt to regulate their home lives. According to the Record, a majority of them protested the new rule, arguing that it violated their free-speech rights and that the school should have no say on what they do at home.>

[electropop]

He must have found a blog describing his own sexual exploits

with some of the little boys.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

33. ROFL!

[BattyDem]

1. WTF?

:wtf:

Who appointed him to be their personal guardian? They have PARENTS who are perfectly capable of deciding what's best for their children! :grr:

So ... who else thinks there's a very different reason for the ban on blogs? Is he afraid some kids will talk about things he doesn't want them to talk about? ;-)

[WLKjr]

9. Thou shalt not blog will be in the

new bible when they decide to rewrite a new version again.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. Exactly

Parents are supposed to monitor what their kids do online. My brother and I are both adults and we keep the computer in the family living room. I think all they can do is just block the sites at school. When I was in high school they had the internet but had certain sites blocked of course. I was able to access yahoo and my Email (with yahoo).

[BattyDem]

16. My sister keeps the computer in the living room as well

It's on a desk against the wall, so anyone in the living room (or even the dining room) can see the screen. Her kids have virtually no chance of downloading porn or having sexual conversations online because someone is always around, LOL!

[Solly Mack]

2. The Reverend Kieran McHugh needs to stop scoping out

the kids on MySpace.com and Xanga.com - he wouldn't know the students were there otherwise.

[BattyDem]

4. LOL ... that's a very good point!

:toast:

[Solly Mack]

8. If I were a parent I'd ask him that question

"Why are you trolling teen online hang-outs?"

:hi:

[FreedomAngel82]

15. LOL exactly

How does he know about these sites? Knowing about MySpace is a gimme since it's pretty popular but the others aren't quite.

[rainbow4321]

25. She is clueless how Xanga works....

cuz there is a way to make it look like there have been no recent posts when really there is the "private post" option. So if the kids use that option, ONLY those kids that they allow access to those private posts can see them..not the general public who stops by the website. So the kids can Xanga away and the principal will have no clue. All they need to do is get rid of their current Xanga, start a new one and do private posts or more anonymous public ones and she will never find them out.

Both my kids have had Xanga sites for years and I monitor both public and private..you just need the password to see the private ones. They have links to all their friends' sites so it is a good way to find out what is going on with the kids, any trouble they may get into, etc...

Their (public) school principal called a meeting with the kids one day and told them that the school was monitoring their Xanga sites..this was after a kid did a death threat on a school official on one of them and a neighbor saw it and reported him.

[Solly Mack]

28. I have the utmost faith in teens to get around any prohibition

but the Good Rev still needs a new hobby. :)

[sasquatch]

3. And this what all the republicans want our children to experience

Remember, there boy Bill Bennett wants to close all public schools and have them replaced with these private schools.

[FreedomAngel82]

17. Yep

That way they don't have to pay for it. That's why they want everything privitized from school to social security. They want the tax dollars for their government programs and than they will get the tax cuts and thus they get richer.

[Not_Giving_Up]

5. Freedom of Speech

I hope the kids and parents are going to fight this.

Are the school employees so bored that they are out looking for kids with blogs? How do they expect to enforce this? If they have a blog at a site that the school isn't aware of, they won't be punished.

This is total bullshit!

[Der Blaue Engel]

10. We should find a way to announce to these kids that they're welcome on DU

And soon there will be blogging! :D

[Xithras]

23. Private school, not a FoS issue.

If private schools can throw a kid out because one of their parent's are gay, do you really think that a judge is going to care about about a few censored blogs? Remember, the first amendment limits the restrictions that government can place on speech...private speech restrictions are perfectly legal and happen every day in private schools and workplaces in the US. If you don't believe me, try answering the phone at work with "Bush's Oil War is Illegal" and see how long it takes your boss to fire you.

The reality, in this situation, is that the school cannot hope to find and eliminate all of the blogs from its students. What it can do, however, is stop students from passing those blog addresses around at school. That's probably what they're hoping for.

[BattyDem]

24. True, but parents pay to send their kids to these schools ...

and I would be extremely pissed off if the principal of ANY school decided to circumvent my rights as a parent.

By the way, I'm not a parent ... I'm just speaking hypothetically. :-)

[FreedomAngel82]

26. But they're getting them for having it at home not school

So wtf is up with that?

[NashVegas]

32. I Think It Is an FoS Issue and More

It's also Freedom of Association.

When I was in Catholic school we were told not to associate with public school kids; they were "ruffians and thugs," etc. MySpace isn't just a place to post about your life, it's a place to encounter people with similar interests and communicate with them.

From the article, it *looks* like the principal read one kid's blog, saw said kid writing about a possible sexual pred encounter:

Popular community sites such as Xanga and MySpace got the school administration's attention when it learned that a student had communicated online with someone who lied about their identity, age and where they lived, though McHugh would not elaborate on the specifics of the case.

Then there's this:

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.

This just pisses me off. Sure, I have personal issues when it comes to Catholic Schools. The gag order keeping kids from saying anything negative about their school is bad enough (what's the difference between trashing your sSchool in a letter to your local newspaper editor and an online BBS? ZERO - except for the fact a content manager has to approve the printing in a paper), but to threaten to boot anyone who chooses to explore a community the church deems unsafe is a load of crap.

If Mrs. Mary Kaye and those of her ilk had the time and the backbone to discuss the real potential water-traps of childhood naiveté, they wouldn't have to worry so much about sexual predators in the first place.

In the example the article listed, the school and the parent of the kid had and squandered a great opportunity to teach about the real dangers of some of the people they may encounter online, and what warning signs to look for. Instead, they chose to clamp down. Instead of protecting kids, they're trying to keep them naive and clueless. It would have been a hell of a lot smarter - and easier - to ask someone from a local FBI office who specializes in this shit to come in and do a show & tell / Q & A. But no, instead, they gotta try to keep the kids innocent, so they can remain chumps.

[seabeyond]

6. this from the catholic church. protect from sexual predators

if that isn't a giggle

[Der Blaue Engel]

7. Let me get this straight

A Catholic school administrator is worried about sexual predators online. Hey, pal, check the office next to you...they're a lot closer than that! Jesus H. Christ on a potpie.

[Richard Steele]

18. Maybe that's the real reason- squashing the competition.

The old-fashioned pervs just can't keep up
with today's modern, web-using pedophiles?

[rocktivity]

11. Since children can be found via chat rooms and spam as well

Maybe they should be banned from going online altogether. How does the school know which students have what blogs, anyway?
:headbang:
rocknation

[nickinSTL]

12. if I were a parent at a school where they tried that...

I'd be furious.

It isn't the school's business what my kid does at home.

It's MY business. And my responsibility to decide what limits to set.

[FreedomAngel82]

19. That's what is so weird

They're blogging at home and yet they'll be suspended? :shrug: That's just ridiculous and isn't their place (unless it's THEIR kid).

[movonne]

13. This is a joke.."online sexual predators"...How about school predators..

[Cha]

20. His name would be

Mc "Hugh"!

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Will the little darlings take to the halls and stage a one day

strike?

We did... was fun really

[woodsprite]

22. For threats to the children, why doesn't he check the parrish house

instead of the internet?

On an aside, our babysitter and her boyfriend are going to the local halloween party dressed as a priest and a altarboy. Hubby and I think it's funny. My MIL would be *SHOCKED*!!!

[MaineDem]

27. I don't have a big problem with this

Parents who send kids to Catholic schools expect a higher level of discipline that at public schools.

That being said, I really don't know how they're going to stop it from happening. I understand what Father McHugh is trying to do. It's important to teach kids about online predators. But I'm not sure this is the right way.

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. He could tell them they mustn't include details of other pupils

That would be sensible; and he could also advise them not to include personal details about themselves. But banning them altogether seems draconian.

[MaineDem]

31. Draconian?

That describes every Catholic school I ever attended. :)

[NashVegas]

30. Gotta Get the Little Darlings Back Under Church Control

Starting with what they talk about, and who they say it to.