Elonka wrote:
] He went up before a review board today, and read them a
] statement (linked below). After hearing the statement, the
] board then voted unanimously to make the expulsion permanent.
]
] I have my own thoughts on the efficacy of the statement, but
] I'll leave it to you to make up your own minds.

The last thing the school wants is someone who not only seeks to break their rules but does it in a way they don't understand. What he told them with this statement is yes, I broke your rules, no I don't respect you, and regardless of what you do to me I'm going to keep breaking your rules. He has made them fear him. So they kicked him out.

I don't really see him as being in the wrong in the grand scheme of things, but at a certain point, as a youth, you have to be willing to negotiate with the powerful idiots in your environment. It is easy to lie to them and tell them that you understand them and your sorry and you won't do it again. Getting up in front of them and reading a manifesto is asking for it. They haven't read the authors you are referencing and they don't understand what you're talking about. They see a kid that will never obey, and could be dangerous. Thats all they can see.

Of course, what I'm wondering is what happens now. Where are his parents, and what are his plans? My experience is that school districts become very accomidating when you haul them into court. The question is whether you have a strong arguement. Can the school expell students for minor infractions? No, its almost certainly illegal. You need only explain to the judge that the infractions where minor, and the expulsion was mostly due to the school district's miss understanding of computers. Incidentally, I would not get up in court and read them a screed about Noam Chomsky, (who, incidentally, is a radical socialist, not a libertarian). The point to make is I'm a good kid and they are simply stupid, and not I didn't really do anything wrong but some day I'm going to start a suicide bombing campaign in third period.

Another option, if you have it, is to get the press to report the details of your expulsion. Find leaders in your community who understand technology and can explain you to the school better then you can.

I think Decius is basically right...something that is hard for smart kids of this age to understand is that its not always a good idea to intimidate their authority figures...even if he thinks he is in some way helping them (which I dont see in this case) they dont want to hear about it...there is no reason to clue them in that you know how to do anything that might scare them (this includes anything they dont understand), its best for everyone if you just keep your mouth shut about those things...or as my friend Xx25 would say, stop scaring the civilians...

--Abaddon

Elonka wrote:
] I have my own thoughts on the efficacy of the statement, but
] I'll leave it to you to make up your own minds.

[ Unless his *goal* was to get expelled, in order to draw attention to the issue or force his parents into bringing legal action, i'd say the statement was *ineffective*.

Whether it was correct is a more complex question. That high school is an often oppressive environment for certain types of intelligent and progressive students is inarguable. There are millions of stories like this one - thoughtful but impulsive kids whose idealism subjugates their survival instinct. In the grand scheme, the things he did were trivial, but they were also kinda foolish. It seems like by the time he was telling a friend how to circumvent school policy (and facilitating the circumvention via HIS proxy), his two prior infractions should've indicated that the school administrators are not reasonable in this area, which should've invoked a degree of caution.

Is the school being a bit draconian? Hell yeah, and most are. Lots and lots of schools refuse to keep "radical" literature in the library and probably all of them censor their web access. Some, such as this one, it seems, go as far as to limit your ability to read certain things even on your "free" time. Unfortunately, flaunting your refusal to comply does not effect positive results. Alas, at some point, you have to learn to play the game, even if your goal is to change the rules... not something i've been particularly good at accepting, but nonetheless a fact of life.

As Decius wrote, the key is to convince people that you're not a threat, and that you'll be more politic in the future. Idealism must be tempered by perspective. -k]

this right here is why he was expelled...

--snip--

"The school is simply a holding pen for those too young to work. Security cameras dot the halls, police officers prowl like hungry pigs, and the student handbook bans such things as "unauthorized reading material." Personal and intellectual freedoms are suppressed to an extent that the student body has for the most part given in to either a drug induced apathy, or a happy obedience."

--snip--

this demonstrates some very poor judgement on his part...its clear they're over reacting, as he pointed out himself he is getting the same punishment as someone that commited a violent crime on campus...but knowning that they are not being totally rational he should have been smarter about this...remember when you go to a public school you give up most of your civil liberties when you enter campus (thats not sinicism, thats unfortunately case law)...when I was in highschool i was almost expelled for similar bullshit, but I had never attempted to insult the people that I most needed a favor from...I in many ways agree with this kid, but for some reason its just too hard for teenagers to shutup, grin and bear it until its all over...

a few more quotes of interest:

"if I use my free speech rights to talk about that proxy with another student, can the school, interrogate, suspend, and expel me?"

as much as we might not want this to be true, I'm not so sure that you have full free speach rights while at school...when I was a teenager and going through similar trials this became very clear to me...

"Expelling students who speak out is unconstitutional."

again, I'm not so sure this is true...first off there is noting in the federal constitution that bars the states from having a different set of rights for you (with the exception of some provitions made to force states to have basic rights for all people), also if he is a minor then he almost certainly has different, and in some respects fewer rights to "speak out"...

you have to pick your battles in life, and I think he's shown some very poor judgement in picking this one (teenagers are known for that sort of thing)...though I've got to say that it was at least as much my parents forcing me to not be stupid as it was my own instinct of self preservation that got me out of trouble when I was his age...so I have to ask, where are this kids parents in all of this, I'm sure this is something that they could clear up pretty easily, and getting a lawyer is the first step (as I sincearly doubt that the ACLU will take his case)...I'm sure if they can afford to get their kid wifi detectors, and computers at home on dedicated connections, then they can afford a lawyer...

--Abaddon

Elonka wrote:
] He went up before a review board today, and read them a
] statement (linked below). After hearing the statement, the
] board then voted unanimously to make the expulsion permanent.

A few snips of his statement:

The school is simply a holding pen for those too young to work. Security cameras dot the halls, police officers prowl like hungry pigs, and the student handbook bans such things as "unauthorized reading material." Personal and intellectual freedoms are suppressed to an extent that the student body has for the most part given in to either a drug induced apathy, or a happy obedience. ... Dundee crown, of corse, has a web filter. I do not appreciate this. ... With all of my school's clear problems, why did I focus on combating censorship of the internet? Probably because I saw freedom of information as the main source of social progress, because essays from noted libertarians like Herbert Marcuse, Eric Raymond, and Noam Chomsky were some of the material the school had been censoring, and I saw real change potentially locked away in words the school library wouldn't stock.

In short, this kid is more concerned with being right then being in trouble. That might have been noble if this was the courts he was dealing with, but its not, its his school district. High School is not the real world. Its even more unfair.

To any of the young haxors out there.. When it comes to your school, worry about your ass first, then saving the world second. Not because saving the world is less important, but because you are not in a position to fight for anything and get anywhere. As far as the school is concerned, you don't have any rights. The1 might not be too far off with his impression of the school district, but you can see where being blunt about the situation got him. There are good reasons why you address judges as "Your Honor", police as "Officer", and don't tell your school board they are a bunch of idiots. You treat the people who hold the axe over your head with respect, otherwise regardless of the virtues of your case, you will not attain your desired outcome. I'm getting the impression The1 was in cocky haxor mode, spitting a constant stream of the standard radical philosophy you get from a teenage hacker who's only as far into into digesting most of this information as age will allow. (Not far) We were all there once, drilling one political perspective or another. We all had maybe one or two things half right.

It sounds to me like he decided to fight a losing battle, with a very bad strategy. Its all damage control now. The legal end of this should get him back in school, but its going to cost his family a lot of money and its sure as hell not going to right any of the wrongs he is concerned with.

Hehe.. For one, I would have suggested replacing Chomsky with Barlow, and "libertarians" with "civil libertarians" (or something like that).... [ Read More (0.4k in body) ]

] He went up before a review board today, and read them a
] statement (linked below). After hearing the statement, the
] board then voted unanimously to make the expulsion permanent.

I can feel for this kid, but come on, this statement did him more harm then good. When you scare Joe Sixpack, you get nailed. Is it wrong/stupid/crazy how hard they nail you? Most certainly. However scared people don't act in rational ways, as I learned first hand this last year from my own run ins.

The1 needs to take 2 lessons from this:

1- Talk, draw, teach, but never do anything on a school computer, especially when they are already on to you.

2- Don't let this stop you from being what you are: a smart creative kid. Just be smarter about how you do it. Using Proxy Server means you most likely changed some Admin settings, and that will get you screwed, even if it was just a proxy server.