Bud the Teacher

    James Farmer has weighed in on blocking, after his Edublogs service has begun to be blocked from schools.   I echo James’ feelings when he writes:

So howabout it, I want to be part of something that stands against
this ridiculous censorship in schools, that states clearly and
unequivocally that he most important thing is to teach people to swim and that can clearly and unequivocally say to these educational establishments that what they are doing is WRONG and STUPID.

Are you with me?

    Please, stop by his site and let him know what you think.  Will even took a break from his Thanksgiving blog vacation to mention the issue, as well as a couple of important links:

Decisions continue to be taken out of teachers hands. Make sure to read the comments after James’ post. And D’Arcy Norman’s post on the topic. No sense in once again getting into all the reasons why this is just wrongheaded, but it may be time to go on the offensive in more imaginative ways…

Gentlemen, I’m with you.  But I don’t have a clue about how to best proceed.  What might an international effort to stop or change the nature of filtering look like?  How might it be productive and still honor schools’ (perceived or actual) needs to "protect students"?  Is this really censorship, or are we just being persnickety? 
   In one comment to James’ post, Judy Breck shares this gem:

Here in New York City this fall there is a big moot court competition
among 57 public high schools. The student attorneys are arguing about
what schools can/should do about blocking students from the Internet.
The case was created and the competion being judged by Fordham Law
School students. The whole project is of/for/by young people, with many
of the competitors 14-18 years old. You might be interested in looking
at the case materials here:
http://www.jrcnyc.org/mootCourtCase.05/case_documents.html

      Why haven’t I begun my thesis on this issue already?