posted
Interesting article. It indicates to me that the local law enforcement (and/or prosecutor's office) simply is not computer savvy. They are probably just trying to scare the kids, but what a crock. I mean, the only way those kids got that password was by some idiot in the administration not protecting it or setting one that was too darned obvious anyway. (I'm assuming, but I simply doubt that they had the skills to crack the pword). And why did all the laptops have the same password? That's pretty silly too.
And why, if they were really concerned about security, didn't they change the passwords on a regular basis.
This is just people who don't know much thinking that everything is a disaster if the kids don't do exactly what the administration thought they should (whether they communicated it or not).
It's not like these kids ever even learned any serious hacking skills as a result of this episode. They just found out the password and used it.
posted
While in HS I got banned from all the computers at school, just because I knew more than the teachers.
I've since learned that I should ask the teachers (who simply reply with blank looks) if I can do something before I do it.
At work, I do what I want, and if I break something I HAVE to fix it.
It looks like teachers don't want children to learn anyways these days, they want us to learn to follow rules that don't ever apply in the real world. Granted there are some good teachers, like most of my college teachers.
Posts: 189 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
While we're on the sweeping generalizations, have you noticed that people under thirty are virtually all stupid as hell?
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
It wasn't meant as a sweeping generalization. I had maybe 3 good teachers throughout all HS. I didn't want to get into the specifics and politics of why I was banned, and this was all first hand evidence. I also showed an opposing view about teachers while at school.
How is this? In my experience in public High School, teachers cared less about students learning than students obeying.
Posts: 189 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
You're over 30, Icky? I thought you were younger than that. *smile*
In my experience, students cared more about disobeying than about learning.
And I got kicked off the computer system at my school for an entirely different reason. I would've been upset at it being a felony, but I figured that I did indeed deserve having to turn my programs in on paper for a month. (Well, the third time it was a month -- first time was a warning, and second time was a week; some kids never learn. And the first time, who could blame me? The teacher's password was "a". Second time it was "dog".)
posted
You mean like setting them to be 88 hours begind GMT? Yeah, I'd totally ban him for that if I were his teacher.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
password = "a" That's just great. I mean, you might hit that one by accident for crying out loud.
I wasn't allowed to use computers at my highschool either. Of course, they hadn't been invented yet.
Nylon bristles are superior to natural fibers. There's my sweeping generalization for the day.
Sroup, it is sad that you had such a negative High School experience. One of the best things about high school is clicking with a truly great educator and getting to explore the subject more than just what is taught in the classroom. Especially if the class has a mix of students that includes some that are not interested or outright disruptive.
Ah well. I know a great many teachers and I have to say that there is absolutely no reason for any of them to stay in that profession beyond the point where they aren't interested in the students' learning. And not just about rules, although maybe in some circumstances that in itself would seem to be a lofty goal.
It's been my experience that the vast majority of teachers care a great deal. There's a wide range of competence, to be sure, but even there I have to say that the ones I know are not merely competent but truly inspiring, given half a chance.
I have less good things to say about principals and vice principals. I've known some great ones, but I've also known some people who (I've come to learn later) follow the typical pattern of first time supervisors everywhere. They think they need to change things, make their mark, and really stick to the rules. I don't know if this is a self-selection process (the people who would take that job tend towards officiousness by nature) or if the added responsibility just goes to some people's heads. Or maybe its just the fear that if they screw up they'll end up back in the classroom teaching a bunch of unappreciative proto-humans.
This laptop thing sounds similar to so many "programs" I've watched die in flames over the years. Someone gets a great idea and some grant money. No real planning goes into how to implement it and there's no time to test it first. Suddenly the new program is running the teachers ragged because it's another layer of responsibility without any real training. Some secretary or other is given the responsibility for handing the things out and "controlling" them. He or she knows little or nothing about it, and isn't really clued in to the possibilities of the things. So, the teachers aren't interested in policing it. The secretary treats it like any other school supply ("turn it in at the end of the year with no torn pages or writing in the margins").
I'm going way beyond what was written in the article, of course, but I bet no-one sent anything home to the parents except a warning that they'd be responsible for replacing the machine if little Johnny broke it or lost it. I'm betting that if they had an assembly to present the rules, they didn't even think to warn the children (HS freshmen for crying out loud) that certain behaviors could result in criminal prosecution. Nor did they alert the parents to that either.
Then the inevitable happens and someone is pissed off because their pet program is going down in flames so they decide the heavy-handed approach is the only correct response.
Suddenly the Sherrif is consulting the county attorney and they only similar crimes they know about really ARE felonies, so they're getting all excited 'cuz they haven't had a theft ring in this town since Bonny & Clyde drove through in the 20's. Woo Hoo! Suddenly people are going to make their careers on this one.
I sincerely doubt this will go very far. Unless this community is living inside a time bubble, there are bound to be parents who are computer savvy and will start asking some embarrassing questions of the school administration to the point where the whole thing will be quietly dropped. The kids will get detention and loss of privileges or something and that'll be the end of it.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I think they smell bad, too. I only got into teaching because of the summer vacations and short hours.
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Not to mention getting 12 months pay for 9 months work. And the fact that you can just leave the job at 3:00 pm (at the latest) every day and never have to worry about it once you're home.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
password = "a" That's just great. I mean, you might hit that one by accident for crying out loud.
