Catholic School Bans Students from Myspace

[Guest]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 7703220463

Friday is the deadline for students at St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School to follow orders or risk suspension. School Principal Sister Margaret Van Velzen sent letters home to parents this week saying, in part, that if families allow children to continue their MySpace.com sites, they will not be allowed to return to school. The school plans to use its computer-savvy staff members to monitor the site for student activity

Who can't agree with this decision? The Catholic Church is in the business of protecting children. The Church certainly doesn't want its most innocent, vulnerable members to be exploited by perverts who want to use them for their own plea-OH SNAP!!!

But seriously folks; priorities. If these "families" can't keep their kids off Myspace without threat of punitive action from a parochial school, those "families" have bigger problems to worry about. Like their kids being at a Catholic school.

[jotabe]

Well, it's the parents' decision, about what kind of education their children will receive. Specially in a private school: since the parents are paying for it, it's pretty obvious they agree with that educative model.

[Rei]

I remember at my school they made a rule that students were not allowed to access their hotmail accounts on the school computers because the principal noticed some of the e-mail addresses being used and found them entirely un-Christian. And while he was probably right that what he saw were inappropriate names, I suspect he would have been wiser to send a letter home to all the families of students emphasising that school computers are for school-related use only (projects, research, et cetera). Perhaps with a line saying, "This includes not being allowed to check e-mail, read comics, etc." And I suspect that the principal of this school should have done something similar, so as to save getting flack for banning a certain website.

[Dr. Mobius]

Is this a ban of Myspace on school computers, or are they banned from using it completely, even from home? If the former, their "computer savvy" staff should only need to block the url on the campus network. If the latter, that's a little out of their jurisdiction, I would think.

[Rei]

I misread at first. I assumed it was only at school. When it comes to dictating what they may do at home my opinion is a tad different. While they are allowed to advise against things like that, I have issues with expelling or giving long-term out-of-school suspensions for having a MySpace account. Sure there is a risk to having such an account that you will be dumb enough to fly off to the Middle East to me with some guy, but most people aren't that dumb. And most people that dumb probably can't afford to do that, anyway. And it seems to speak their ignorance if they are just banning this one site and not other ones like it, like hi5, facebook, orkut, etc.

[Firegirl]

I went to a church school a while back, I don't think that the teachers and administration knew at the time how to work a computer . It was a totally different mentality, technology for many reasons scared them.

The Catholic school has a right to restrict the students from accessing Myspace during school hours on school property, but not past school hours at home or off campus.

Just this last semester at my college, Myspace was blocked for a different reason, that so many students were accessing it and using too much network space. Granted students like me and others find ways to get around the system, it's a simple filter.

[zeroguy]

I assumed this was banning its use at all, since that's the only way this is a big deal. Like, if the student just has a myspace account at all, they are gone from the school.

Of course it's rather, well, insane, for a school to impose such restrictions... but it's hard for me to get angry about something that might somehow be a blow to myspace.

If the former, their "computer savvy" staff should only need to block the url on the campus network.

Proxy proxy proxy...

[Slim]

Apparently their computer-savy staff members aren't savy enough to block the URL. But, yes, it seems to me that since it says "if families allow children to continue their MySpace.com sites, they will not be allowed to return to school." That implies to me that they can't use it AT ALL.

Of course, it's only enforcable on the school computers. There's really no way to tell if students are using myspace at their house, unless they use their real name.

My opinon? I think casting sinners out of the school makes less sense than keeping them and calling them to repentance. The student will be uplifted by the school's good influence on him/her. If they are bringing others down with their bad influence, that's when they should be removed.

Sure, ban the URL, and preach about the dangers of myspace, and pray that no one flies off to the Middle East.

[Sibyl]

.... Sure there is a risk to having such an account that you will be dumb enough to fly off to the Middle East to me with some guy, but most people aren't that dumb. And most people that dumb probably can't afford to do that, anyway...

However, the point isn't anything about the Middle East, it's about the 40-year-old sociopath who doesn't govern his own sex life with any kind of morality, just what he wants, and that young girls (and boys) are "hot", and that he wants. He has no compunctions about using a phony name, weaseling his way on "friend" lists with a phony persona, saying he's sixteen and lonely, and posting the picture of a "hot" young boy, purporting to be his picture. Teens are notoriously lacking in good judgement or proper suspicion when playing "The Mating Game", which they're just learning, and anybody can afford to walk six blocks (or whatever), or even invite a "friend" to their house when their parents aren't home. MySpace is notorious for attracting those predators.

.... My opinon? I think casting sinners out of the school makes less sense than keeping them and calling them to repentance. The student will be uplifted by the school's good influence on him/her. If they are bringing others down with their bad influence, that's when they should be removed.
.... preach about the dangers of myspace...

Again, it isn't about the kids being "sinners", it's about protecting them from the sinners/predators, and cyberspace extends from school to home and back and far beyond, to "Sin City" or the "Red Light District".

I think that schools do have a responsibility to protect all who are enrolled there, including chasing away the pervert who is hanging around just outside the playground fence, technically off school grounds, and looking, offering "candy" through the fence. Or maybe building a high stone wall around the playground. (Metaphorical, of course, but teens are only a little more experienced than the young enticed by candy, and they have the added liability of their own mating game hormones).

Preaching about the dangers of drowning doesn't work, on a hot summer day with a glittering swimming pool in sight. "Believing" that you're a good swimmer doesn't make it so.

[the HiveQueen]

I think that simply telling students they can't use myspace and telling parents to tell their kids not to use myspace is not only not helping the situation, but endangering the students. By simply banning the website instead of educating people on how to use them safely, they're not learning how to protect themselves. Ten years ago, the internet was not nearly as well-used as it is now, and it's growing even more. Ten years from now when highschool students have grown up, those skills are going to be more important, and nothing we do now can prevent that. Schools are supposed to be preparing our youth for the future, which is why many have introduced word processing and computer classes. Why not add proper internet conduct to the curriculum?

Of course, there's no way to tell if a kid has a myspace or not because it's so easy to do it behind your parents' back. However, they might be discouraged from making friends with people they don't know or posting personal information if they were told some of the more gruesome myspace predator stories.

On a slightly related topic, the other night I saw the movie "Hard Candy," a movie about an internet pedophile who's "victim" ended up victimizing him, torturing him to the point of suicide (I actually ended up copping out in the middle because my stomach couldn't handle the disgustingness of this movie). It just goes to show that everyone needs to watch their back, not just kids.


the HiveQueen

[jotabe]

Well... i have seen "Hard Candy", and while i thoroughly enjoyed the movie, i don't really think it depicts any realistic situation.

[the HiveQueen]

Of course not, but it still scarred me for life. Besides, equally disgusting situations have arisen from children meeting myspace predators in person.