I'm Tossed
When I was teaching I always tried to reward creative thinking. For example, trusted students always knew that they could get into my class late once in a while if they had a creative - preferably amusing - excuse rather than a hall pass. The students also knew that I treated school as if it was their job with personal responsibility playing a huge role in my discipline plan. It is with all this in mind when I read the following news story and found myself alternately cheering and shaking my head in wonder.
There's much sympathy out there, as well, for the Pennsylvania students now known as the Kutztown 13, who have been charged with felony counts for hacking into their school-issued Apple iBooks. In addition to violating school policies by downloading music and chat features, a couple of the students obtained school administrator passwords and spied on the administrators. The password, for what its worth, was part of the school's address and was actually printed on the back of the laptop.On the one hand, bravo for the ingenuity. Even if the school hadn't had lax security I have no doubt that kids this bright would have succeeded anyway. There are some in every school. One year a couple of my students did a fairly good job counterfeiting money and I congratulated them as I suggest to the principal that we contact the ATF for an arrest. Nearly every one of the 10 years I spent in one district included an incident like this. I really hate to tell a kid in school "now don't be smart!"
The students made a strong case in their own defense, and it looks like the charges will be dropped so long as they agree to do 15 hours of community service, write an apology, take a class on personal responsibility and serve a few months probation, The Associated Press reports. Bloggers are wondering if the school district will take any of the responsibility (Bloggers point to school district in Kutztown case | News.blog | CNET News.com).
Turning one-hundred eighty degrees, though, the students had no business doing what they did. If I tried that as a teacher I would have been prosecuted, too, and likely never would have taught again. Similar restrictions are imposed by my current employer. In fact, I have to electronically "sign" a terms and conditions agreement each time my computer is started and everything is password protected. The students violated a trust. Now all students are going to be watched with keener eyes. That's profiling to be sure, but it will happen.
