Irony

by Belle Kim, copy editor of Fused

In Lower Merion High School of Pennsylvania, students' rights to privacy were completely ignored when the school-issued laptops had installments of webcams that secretly captured thousands of images of students in private settings without the students ever having consented. The webcams took pictures of students' website history and online chat excerpts, as well as those of students in their bedrooms while they were asleep or addressing. The images are then sent to network servers at the school district.

Carol Cafiero, the administrator running the program, agreed with an employee in saying that the screen shots and photos are "a little LMSD soap opera." She said, "I know, I love it!"effort to promote more "engaged and active learning and enhanced student achievement," according to Superintendent Christopher W. McGinley.

Such goings-on are a clear violation of students' rights to privacy. I found it ironic that the school administrators, who are usually trying to enforce prior restraint, prior review, and censorship because they are afraid that what student journalists may uncover would make the schools look bad, are the ones snooping around in the lives of their students with no clear motive that would pardon such actions. First Amendment is about the freedom of press. It is about the freedom journalists have to inform their readers about what is going on in the world they live in. It is the right of the readers to know what is going on in the world they live in. It does NOT give school administrators the right to pry into students' private lives without consent. And just think--if the student journalists of Lower Merion High School decide to print an article in which they discuss the wrongdoings of these school officials, it will almost certainly be censored.

Because it's okay for students to have their rights completely violated, but not ok for schools to look bad.

Oh, the irony.