Learning Strategies

Students in public high schools and middle schools should know their legal rights — as well as the risks they may be taking when attempting to exercise their rights. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an excellent FAQ on the subject. It goes well beyond quoting from the famous Supreme Court Tinker case:

“Students in school as well as out of school are ‘persons’ under our Constitution,” the Court said, and “they are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect...”

They also analyze the much less protective Hazelwood decision, where the Supreme Court allowed censorship that is “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.”

Furthermore:

...although your opinions are protected by the First Amendment, publishing defamatory content (See our Guide to learn what that is) — even jokingly — may get you in trouble at school, and maybe even get you sued. Other types of speech may also violate the law and put you within reach of the school’s discipline, so read further to see what legal pitfalls you should avoid.

The EFF FAQ also includes an excellent discussion of the risks and pitfalls of blogging, such as the following:

Keep in mind that whatever you post on a public blog can be seen by your friends, your enemies, your teachers, your parents, your ex, that Great Aunt who likes to pinch your cheeks like you’re a baby, the admissions offices of schools and colleges to which you might apply, current and future potential employers, and anyone else with access to the Internet and a search engine. While you can change your blog post at any time, it may be archived by others.

Anyway, read the entire document, since it goes into considerable detail about important issues.

Labels: teaching and learning