This is so outrageous I almost don’t know what to say. I guess just “wow.” In one school district in PA the school admins are spying on kids with the webcams on computers the kids get through school while at home. And it came to light when they chose to try and punish a student for conduct while at home. How creepy is that?
School used student laptop webcams… [boingboing]
An obviously delusional and ignorant elementary school principal in NYC hauled in a 4th grader, made him write a confession, and suspended him. For playing with a Lego policeman figure (at his lunch period) with a tiny little plastic gun… I guess that makes her feel like a big person or something.
We see the lack of common sense in society and wonder why people can’t make more intelligent decisions. Kids learn far more by example than lecture and look at what example we are setting for them. This insane “zero tolerance” idea has to go. Humans are reasoning creatures, use some of that capability once in a while.
Patrick Timoney’s “Gun” [This is True Blog]
What? Oh sorry, I meant: ¿qué? I agree that immigrants need to be working towards learning English but this is just stupid.
Ex-CMS secretary says she was fired after she kept speaking Spanish to Latino parents [Charlotte Observer]
A new website by the Royal Society in Britain allows you to explore 350 years of scientific papers and accomplishments via an interactive timeline. Even more interestingly, the actual papers are linked from the event details. For example, you can read Benjamin Franklin’s letter regarding his famous kite experiment.
Being a “science guy” I think this site could definitely occupy some serious time on my part. If you have any interest in science or history, you need to check it out.
Trailblazing [The Royal Society]
A friend of mine is the digital architect of the virtual version (in the Second Life metaverse) of the “Newseum” which is based on the physical museum under construction in Washington DC. The Washington Post has an article discussing the history of museums and how they are adapting to the digital world citing this project as an example. Neither the virtual or physical location are open yet but you can check out their website to see what they are about.
Finally some sanity has been injected into the case of Julie Amero. She is the substitute teacher convicted of endangering minors for “allowing” porn on a school computer. Ms. Amero claimed the porn was the result of ad pop-ups on the web but the prosecutor seemed determined to make a case. She was due to be sentenced yesterday but the court heard her motion for a new trial first and granted it.
Despite the fact that there was no active firewall/content blocker and outdated virus protection, this substitute was somehow supposed to magically change the nature of the web and prevent any distasteful pop-ups. Shoddy investigation made it seem that someone was actively surfing for it. Another forensic examination has shown there is no evidence for that and seems to corroborate Ms. Amero’s story. Even the prosecutor nows admits there may have been errors.
With a competent judge, this should go away when she is retried. I hope Ms. Amero then turns around and sues those involved if only to make them think twice before trying to railroad people again. Teachers have enough problems without malicious questionable prosecution.
News Article
Commentary by Investigator
Blogs: Odd Time Signatures / Slashdot / BoingBoing
Interesting article over at BoingBoing on the case against homework. I have long thought that significant amounts of homework can be counter-productive. Kids have very busy schedules and more than a little stress, after 7 or so hours at school the last thing they need is more work. Check the article for more info on homework statistics and studies on the effects on kids.
We wonder why the US keeps falling behind in science…
I vaguely remember hearing something about model rocket builders having trouble with the feds but I kind of forgot about it. Now there is a tale of more federal stupidity detailed on BoingBoing.
Like any self-respecting geek I did my share of model rocket building in my youth. I also spent hours experimenting with my chemistry set. Although I wasn’t that deeply involved in either they both supported my love of science which has served me well in life.
There are many problems with our educational system (95% of which is not the fault of teachers) and this is just another example of how we shoot ourselves in the foot. If we want to remain a world leader in science we have to foster that curiosity in our youth.
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