Schools & student free speech

Schools in the Indianapolis area are wrestling with the tough Internet Age question of what to do with student behavior when it's about school but starts at home. They're "trying to punish students for Internet commentary they deem inappropriate … drawing outrage from teens and free-speech advocates," the Indianapolis Star reports. The Star looks at how individual schools and district are dealing with the issue and, in a sidebar, lists a few schools' current and potential Internet-use policies. Another sidebar highlights a few student-blogging cases around the US. Students in the Washington, D.C., area, recently successfully negotiated with the school to revise slightly its plan "to require students in all grades to submit essays and other assignments to the for-profit service known as Turnitin, which polices papers for plagiarism," the Washington Post reported.