Misc. Ramblings

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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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!