Educating, and Parenting

A HIGH SCHOL in suburban chicago has decided to start monitoring the internet activity of its roughly thirty two hundred students, looking for, so says the school, improper, inappropiate, or illegal activities. Two basic arguments against this come immediately to mind, and have presumably been dealt with, somehow, by the school's administrators. First, shouldn't all student behavior outside of school be the responsibility of the parents, not the school? And, secondy, shouldn't all the time, energy, and effort that will be required to monitor and respond to the internet activities of thirty two hundred people be better spent improving the education of those people, aka students? Its not as if we are doing a msasterful job of educating our students in america. The recent appearance online of a standard eigth grade test and a high school admissions test from 1912 clearly indicates this. If anybody passed those tests back then, if very many people did, then they (our ancestors) are to be congratulated on the quality of their schools. Nobody could pass those tests in present day america. Nobody. And the questions are fair and knowing their answers is important...but today, we do not know the answers. Kids today are totally involved with their electronic devices and social media. This makes things a bit tricky for parents, who should probably keep the desk top in the living room, and hold off on the I phone for junior. But schools, which are a form of government, ought not to be monitoring its studnets online, at least, not extensively. (neither should the federal government, but see where that got us) They, the schools, have far better things to do, such as educating students, properly. WE have more to learn, and to teach, than they did in 1912. WE have one hundred more years of history, plus all the computer stuff, and so forth. May the schools hope that teaching history, civics, and sociology will instill good moral character in all students. But as far as raising children goes, let the parents raise their own kids.