Decius wrote:

When students post their faces, personal diaries and gossip on Web sites like Myspace.com and Xanga.com, it is not simply harmless teen fun, according to one Sussex County Catholic school principal.It's an open invitation to predators and an activity that Pope John XIII Regional High School in Sparta will no longer tolerate, the Rev. Kieran McHugh told a packed assembly of 900 high school students two weeks ago.

Effective immediately, and over student complaints, the teens were told to dismantle their Myspace.com accounts or similar sites with personal profiles and blogs. Defy the order and face suspension, students were told.

Stupid, and infuriating. Not the school's purview.

If they want to tell the parents that they believe X,Y,Z about weblogs, etc. and say "Hey, you might want to check up on your kids web activities," I still think they're dicks, but that's fine. And I'm talking about a general missive... not a direct letter to Susie's dad saying "Susie has a blog at ... and it's putting her in DANGER!" But for them to tell a student "You can't do this in your spare time, at home, not using school resources"?

100% bullshit.

The primary impetus behind the ban is to protect students, McHugh said. The Web sites, popular forums for students to blog about their lives and feelings about their teachers and schools, are fertile ground for sexual predators to gather information about children, he said.

McHugh, shut the fuck up. You can justify anything by saying it's to "protect the children." Protect the children by fucking EDUCATING THEM. THAT is your job. Censoring, limiting, and hassling them is not.

RE: MemeStreams banned by New Jersey Catholic School