Cathy Nelson has a marvelously interesting post today about her school/district’s restrictive new IT policy.

She writes (emphasis mine):

What did I say? I said, “This is not real-world. How am I going to teach students to be ready for the 21st century if normal computer standards like desktop icons and right click are not available?” Yes I distinctly remember putting voice to that comment. And only now do I realize how keenly the crowd that gathers in the library each morning listens to me. You see we have an 8th grade current events exploratory class. The class is creating a newsletter for students–target audience–> students. One of my morning “regulars” is in that class, and his group is creating a “critic’s corner” for their newsletter. After getting a “no” on anything that might criticize a specific teacher or student, and getting shot down on love, sex, drugs, or profanity, the group has finally come up with a new topic they are enthusiastically researching for their contribution. It will be a critique of the new student login and restrictions on the computer. The plan to write about blocked sites, no icons, the inability to make a workspace that is “theirs” (translated they want a cool background on their desktop, their own bookmarks, etc.) and get this: they are going to QUOTE me making my statement.

Here is my response, also left as a comment…

Hi Cathy…

I have a couple thoughts about this…

1. Don’t let them use your quote at all. First, it makes you seem like you’re wanting to openly start a bit of a rebellion.

2. The quote is not correct. Sure kids can have all the desktop love they want at home, but the reality is in the corporate world many IT departments have severely restrictive policies in place. I have a friend who works for a major corporation and his privileges are nonexistent on the machine he uses all day long. He has to resort to running portable apps on a flash drive until they blocked USB port access. So the truth is, what they are experiencing is in large part overly protective IT management policies that are, in fact, real world.

3. This is not the way to enact change. With this being so new, naturally the school/district/IT folks have made the policies far too restrictive out of fear. Fine, have the kids convince them there’s a low risk to allowing them to change desktops, etc. Instead of a CRITIQUE (read: puts the admin on the defensive) have them play political (teachable moment here) and have them survey the student body and report back that 99.95435324 percent of the kids would like the chance to change the background or whatever. Then have them explore the possible risks, why did the IT dept decide to do this, etc. Then have them counter argue. Critique sounds whiny, critique sounds attacking, make this more of a Student Response.

Ok so that’s a lot, but it’s my thinking…

Chris