My best xmas present this year was a heavy-duty cloth grocery/utility bag with a big "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" on the side. A monument to the late and much lamented constitutional republic known as the USA.

Or, as the t-shirt has it, "The Bill of Rights*"

(* void where prohibited by law)

It will be interesting to see where so-called Conservatives come down on this. You know, the ones who support free speech for intangible corporations but are not so quick to defend it for actual persons.

There is no First Amendment for minors, as we have seen again and again. Oddly, many states allow very young children to benefit from the Second Amendment.

School administrators deal with this kind of thing in the wrong way. They should use the old principle, "don't get mad, get even." Teachers and administrators should, on their own time, using the own computers (just like the students are doing), create web sites, Facebook pages, etc., saying that such and such student is "the worst student I've ever seen" and giving examples of things that are out in the open (not the kind of data that is covered by privacy laws."

And don't give me the old line about these being kids and schools should respond like adults. These "kids" are technologically savvy and the kinds of things that get posted on these pages 1) are often untrue; 2) are disruptive; and 3) do lasting harm to the reputations of good professional educators doing their best.

As a friend of mine once said, "if you play adult games, you pay adult prices." Students like this girl in Florida do this strictly to get revenge on teachers/administrators who try to hold them accountable for their own shortcomings. Until those students understand the true consequences of their actions, this kind of cyberbullying will continue--because the students have nothing to lose.

"Rights never come without responsibilities. Only children or dishonest men would demand the former while denying the latter."

--Mark Twain

ecohuman what about the right to be irresponsible? Does that one count?