My sister-in-law went to an info session at her son’s school recently to learn about online safety. By the end of the session, she was ready to destroy the home computer to save her two adolescents from the many dangers of cyberspace. The school should know better than to rattle off a litany of Things-To-Be-Afraid-Of. [...]

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I have found myself listening to two albums over and over recently.  The first, Timbaland’s Shock Value and the second, T.I.’s Paper Trail.  In both cases, I am struck over and over again at how hypnotic their beats are.  Sitting on the train, ready to fall asleep after a week’s work, I’ll suddenly feel my [...]

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Teachers can’t wear political buttons, can’t talk politics with students, a recent article says.  Despite the NYC Department of Education’s prohibition, I’ve heard colleagues describe teaching itself as a form of political activism.  They say, for example, that any book an English teacher chooses to teach is a political choice.  If I teach Rushdie rather [...]

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If you are reading this on a computer at a New York City public school, please click on the following link and watch what happens: http://www.facebook.com/. You will probably see something like this:
Legally, schools are allowed to prohibit access to certain sites they think are not suitable for students. My question is, How do certain [...]

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