November 2006 Archives

In yet another incident of students vs. school, two Central York students are protesting – in court – their punishment for hacking into the school district computer. According to the article “Students fight suspensions� in the York Daily Record on Nov. 22, the students were suspended for several months. Their attorney says the punishment is too long – longer than school district rules allow.

Interestingly, the attorney brought the Constitution into the debate: He argues that the punishment “violates [the students’] constitutional rights of due process and their statutory rights to attend school,� according to the article. The article also quotes the school board president as saying, “This is a student disciplinary matter, and those are highly confidential.�

I don’t have the details, so I don’t know which side is correct. If I had to decide how to punish the two students, I would give them more work to do, not let them take a vacation. ...

By Jake Mokris
Teen Takeover staff

It’s easy to be cavalier about some issues, especially important ones. Censorship is one of those issues. In debates about censorship, statements like these abound: “This book corrupts our children.� Or, “If you ban this book, you have to ban Clifford (the big red dog) too� (these aren’t real quotes). Or, “All restrictions violate my freedom of expression.�

I don’t like it when people don’t stop to think about what they believe. To deal with issues like censorship, thinking is mandatory. So here I go: