An instructional website on Internet literacy for teachers

Censorship Two thorny issues that confront educators about minors and censorship have to do with children's access to materials in the Internet and their freedom of speech. On one hand you have concerned legislators, educators and parents seeking more controls to protect minors from inappropriate and offensive materials. On the other you have students getting into trouble for the content of messages in e-mail, chats, newsgroup and bulletin board postings, and websites. Freedom of Access to Information Public and school libraries are among the hotly contested battlegrounds as far as what materials -- print and electronic -- should be made available to children and adults. The American Libraries Association and other advocates of intellectual freedom are holding their ground against attempts by legislators at the national and state levels to install blocking software or filters in Internet computers. They adhere to Article V of the Library Bill of Rights which says, “A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.” Furthermore, the ALA’s  Free Access to Libraries for Minors: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights also states: The "right to use a library" includes free access to, and unrestricted use of, all the services, materials, and facilities the library has to offer. Every restriction on access to, and use of, library resources, based solely on the chronological age, educational level, or legal emancipation of users violates Article V. Parents -- and only parents -- have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children -- and only their children -- to library resources. Parents or legal guardians who do not want their children to have access to certain library services, materials or facilities, should so advise their children. Librarians and governing bodies cannot assume the role of parent or the functions of parental authority in the private relationship between parent and child. Librarians and governing bodies have a public and professional obligation to provide equal access to all library resources for all library users. Other anti-censorship groups advocate similar stands that parents, not government, should determine what materials their children can access. It is their view that no law, technology, or software should substitute parental supervision.  Freedom of Expression Every now and then a case is publicized where students are subjected to disciplinary action or at worst, expelled from school, for expressing their views in the Internet. This is not new. In the past and until now, schools have been put to task for censoring student newsletters, yearbooks, essays, art projects, and creative works. What is new is that schools today also penalize students for their activities in the Internet even when they do it outside school hours, facilities, and premises.  Mitchell v. Rolla School District No. 31 A high school junior student in Missouri was suspended by his school for 10 days after he participated in a teen-only chat room discussion on school violence using another student's name as an alias. This occurred in April 1999 when many schools were still reeling from the shooting tragedy in Littleton, Colorado. His suspension has been condemned by the American Civili Liberties Union which asserts that his pronouncements in a chat room during the weekend in a private home is protected under the First Amendment. ACLU filed a lawsuit after officials refused to remove the suspension from the student's permanent record. Read About this case Beussink v. Woodland R-IV School District Another high school junior student, also in Missouri, was reprimanded, for making his opinion about his principal, a teacher, and President Bill Clinton known through his personal homepage. This page contained profane language and a link to his school. After he pulled down the offending homepage he was suspended for 10 days.The ACLU defended the student's speech in his own homepage as individual speech and contradicted the school's stand that the link to the school website justified the displinary action. Read About this case Curzon-Brown v. San Francisco Community College District In January 2000, the ACLU filed for a dimissal of a lawsuit by a professor in San Francisco, California against a student website called Teacher Review. In this case, the creator of the site, the college district, and student body were all cited as defendants. The site was created by a student to provide fellow students an online reference which teachers and classes to select. Launched in 1997, the site grew to 5,000 student-authored reviews of nearly 600 instructors. The plaintiff is one of the teachers named among the ten worst in the school. Read About this case Conclusion We can deduce from these examples that while most students today know more about technology than their parents and elders, they still require adult guidance and supervision -- short of blanket censorship and harsh penalties -- to understand the consequences of their actions when they use technology.
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