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My main question is if the school district was so concerned about the safety of their networks--why didn't they take these laptops away from the kids? That was usually the first punishment presented when kids overstepped the usage agreement in my high school--your computer usage was taken away at school. It seems only fair that if these laptops were owned by the school, then they should have taken them out of the hands of the kids after the kids proved they could not use them responsibly.
As for people saying that these kids could turn out to be criminals--I doubt it. Most kids around this age who do turn out to be criminals show more obvious signs than computer abuse/cracking. I know a pair of kids who committed identity theft when they were in high school, back before it was taken so seriously. They were barely 16 when they started doing that.
What the school should have done is 1) taken those kids computers away, and 2) instead of punishing them with repeated suspensions, ISS, etc, try to channel their skills into something beneficial. THAT is more effective than any kind of punishment that would be doled out by the administration, and who knows, it could have led to some mandatory community service (computer repair for the poor, perhaps?).
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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