One barrier to reforming the public school system are some
teachers who, perhaps full of hubris, think they know it all and that
anyone else, other than a teacher, who would dare propose
something couldn't possibly know anything. Given that
assumption, it is no wonder that reform is so difficult for
these teachers.
When it comes to computers, I find the majority of
teachers know far less than their students. In fact, I find
teachers some of the least proficient in basic computer
understanding of any group I've ever met. I know of a PhD
who, literally, has a hard time turning the computer on or
off. While some teachers have learned to use PC-based
applications, few understand the computer or the operating
system that runs on it.
One example of this is found in a Texas
Star-Telegram article where a 13-year-old middle
school student was suspended for three days for learning how
to send a text message over the school's computer network.
The student learned how to do this dastardly act from his
father. The command he used was net
send.
First, lets be clear that the DOS box command
net is but one of a
series of tools (at the command line type in
net help for the list
of tools) that comes with Windows. Typically, they are used
to diagnose network problems but, as is the case with the
net send command, can
be used for other purposes such as a crude form of instant
messaging that creates very little network overhead.
To be fair, it is possible to mess things up using some of
the net command tools.
And given the inventiveness of children, it may be possible
to cause problems using the net
send command. But that's not what this
student did. He sent one word and was suspended for three
days.
How does this punishment fit the "crime"? Especially
since, apparently, what he did is not in violation of any of the
school's posted rules!
One of the most powerful dialectics of pedagogy is to test
the environment by experimenting. That is, we learn by
trying. We learn by doing things and seeing what happens. As
we master these behaviors, we can move forward and test new
hypotheses. This is not to say we can, or even should,
experiment without limits. It is easy to fashion a situation
in which unlimited testing will not teach anything because
the experimenter will be dead. But that's not what where
talking about here.
We're talking about a child, learning how to use a
legitimate network-based tool, to send a message. The message
he sent to the entire domain, not knowing it was going to the
entire school, was "Hey!". For this he was suspended for
three days.
What lesson are we teaching here? What is it we want our
students to learn? Do we want students that are inquisitive
and eager to learn or do we want automatons too afraid to
touch a keyboard for fear of violating a rule that does not
exist but will result in a suspension?
I quote below the full text of a chilling email sent from
the student's teacher to the writer of the news article:
Mr. L., I want to communicate to you my concerns
about some of the 'reporting' done by [the] Star-Telegram
and my concern about an article I have heard you might be
writing. Too often, people who do not know the real world
of public education feel that they are the 'experts' who
have all the solutions and that their opinions are as
valuable as those who live in this world daily.
If you comment upon events that are reported to you by a
parent and do not fully investigate those reports before
you publish your article, then you are one of those people.
I have not heard that you have attempted to contact those
people who really know the situation.
I am speaking about one incident in the Birdville School
District in which a student was expelled for tampering with
the district's computers. Having been a computer teacher in
the real world of public education for many years, let me
say that suspension of students who are guilty of such
tampering sends a message to all students that is
beneficial and necessary.
Students should not be of the opinion that it is
acceptable to abuse the privileges that are afforded them
by the taxpayers. If they are allowed to experiment and do
things on the computers that the teachers have not
specifically given them permission to do, we would never
get any computer education accomplished.
Hacking into a system should be highest on the list of
tampering violations. I believe the other students are now
aware that the district takes this seriously and will not
tolerate such misuse of our equipment.
I invite you, parents, our state representatives, and
anyone else that thinks they know how a teacher or a
district should react to ANY situation to come live with us
for a while -- be a substitute teacher for a few weeks and
learn the real world of public education.
[Name deleted to protect the guilty]
I was a graduate student teacher for a semester about six
months ago so I will take up her challenge:
Using the net
send command to say "Hey!" is not
hacking in either sense of the word. That is, it is neither
an elegant coding algorithm solution to a problem nor an
illegal break-in to a protected computer system.
Suspending a student for this action sends a powerful
message. The message it sends is that authority is both
absolute and unaccountable. That teachers and
administrators, contrary to the litany of whining that we
hear, have absolute power to destroy any possibility of
constructive exploration and learning. That "violations" to
rules that do not exist are mere technicalities. Students
are second class citizens and do not have due process
rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Some teachers lack of knowledge and understanding of
basic computer systems seems to know no bounds. This must
be dealt with either by learning from students or by
reading books or by taking classes from others that are
knowledgable about such things.
A wise person once said that the first step in learning is
to understand what you don't know. If you know nothing else,
know that you may have done a great disservice to your community
in general and to this student in particular.
See the child's side of the story here.
Aloha!
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