Student's school-filtering fix

The best part of this 16-year-old's commentary in the Salem [Ore.] Statesman Journal is not about the flaws in his school's Web filtering system, though he presents a convincing case – e.g., "some sites are blocked for strange or false reasons, leaving students scratching their heads as to why something on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Web site is blocked for 'jokes'." The best part is his fix. It respects students' intelligence and involves accountability. For example, "Start by giving each student a personal logon and password. Then use new software that would start out with a basic list of allowed sites…. If a student were to try to access a site unknown to the software, a screen would be produced that would inform the student that the visit would be recorded and the site would be reviewed by the school district's network administrator." I doubt there's any discussion about protecting online kids that wouldn't benefit from the subjects' input. Most adults have developed a certain amount of life literacy and most kids have considerable tech literacy; both are needed in the discussion.