This case about Quez
on City Science High school students supposedly criticizing their school's
policies through their blogs brings to mind issues of freedom of expression and
responsibility.
Based on earlier reports, these four students blogged about certain policies th
ey deemed "unfair." For that, they were suspended. As one student recalled:
âIt's not true that there was due process. We were asked to submit letters of apology and we thought that was it. Next thing we knew, we were susp ended for ten days,â he added.The school reportedly submitted a recommendation that the four students be susp ended for 10 days, which was later approved by the Department of Education's di vision. Later --or after news about the suspension of these students was picked up by media, the DepEd revoked the suspension and ordered an investigation. When I was still in high school, it was unthinkable to criticize school policie s. We do discuss about such things. But they were all done privately among us, students. Back then, there was no Internet to speak of. No blogs. No social net works. Today, it's quite different, as some teachers and college professors I have tal ked to attest. Yes, some teachers know that students blog and that they are now more vocal about their feelings about school policies, subjects, and even the teachers themselves. Some teachers may find this "inappropriate." But others ch ose to tolerate it. Question is: what can teachers/principals/school official tolerate? Based on this report , the students claim they were not given due process when they were suspend ed. Also, they claim that the blogs were "private," meaning only "friends" have access to it. The report indicates that the students' blogs were allegedly critical of the sc hool principal, Dr. Zenaida Sadsad. At this point, it's hard to say whether or not the school was right in suspendi ng these students. Students do have the right to express what they feel, but si nce they were done "privately" albeit through the Internet (think of discussion s in a private mailing list that are posted in a public list), are they answera ble to the school? On the flipside, it is also apt to ask whether or not these students have gone beyond merely venting their feelings to the point of already maligning persons involved. What do you think?
