Libertyville Illinois should call itself Subjugationville, IL - school board attempts to control students' private lives

Why does the bone-headed actions of the Libertyville (oh the irony!), IL school board jeopardize the civil liberties of all Americans? Because of the reasonable person standard.

When the government wants to invade your privacy one question is what would a reasonable man/woman/person think? If the goverment gets young people accustomed to peeing in jars (for otherwise illegal drug testing without a warrant), having their lockers searched (for otherwise illegal physical searches without a warrant), or having their non-school online activities grounds for scholastic disciplinary actions it affects every one of us.

Indoctrinating young people to be compliant and tolerant of so-called authority's invasions of privacy lowers the "reasonable person standard" by eroding what people can expect to be reasonable while they're subject to braod adult control.

If you're forced to pee in a jar, have your locker searched, or have your free-speech curtailed to play sports or join the glee club then why shouldn't the government tap your phones, seize your medical records, or force you to pee in a jar, or give saliva, sweat, or hair samples to earn a living?

The busy bodies in Lake County think they should dictate what students do away from school.

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. - High school students are going to be held accountable for what they post on blogs and on social-networking Web sites such as MySpace.com.

The board of Community High School District 128 voted unanimously on Monday to require that all students participating in extracurricular activities sign a pledge agreeing that evidence of "illegal or inappropriate" behavior posted on the Internet could be grounds for disciplinary action.

Not everyone seems to appreciate the local school district sticking their nose into the students' away from school conduct, or into the parent's rightful jurisdiction.

Mary Greenberg of Lake Bluff, who has a son at Libertyville High School, argued the district is overstepping its bounds.

The nanny school board of "Libertyville" should re-name their town "Subjugation-ville".

Update 5/26/06: There's a comment that what one posts on the web isn't "private". IMHO, the commenter confuses secret and private which are different, and misses the point I made. Whether the information posted is publicly available or top-secret isn't the issue. The conduct the school, i.e. government, is trying to regulate is "private": it's not affiliated with any institution. In other words, it's not the schools' business. It's the parents' busines.

Schools can refuse to let kids post online from school. OK. The kid's under their supervision, that's one thing. Saying the school can punish a kid for what they do away from school is totally something else. According to that logic schools would be able to punish kids for swearing at home, not eating their vegetables, or who-knows-what else. Bad behavior perhaps, but not their business.

If a kid does something online that is criminal, for example making credible death threats, then the school should report it to the police. If the kid does something stupid such as posting their name, photo, and address, then notify the parents. They can create an online safety curriculum to educate kids or parents if they think parents are ill-informed. Punishing someone's kid for things not directly related to their conduct in school, under the schools supervision is stepping into the role of the parent. It's going too far.

Categories: government, idiocy, civil, liberties, privacy, risks, internet, freedom, youth