Student Given Detention for Using Firefox; Update: Kid Not Exactly Blameless
According to this scanned detention slip, some poor kid was given detention for running Firefox on his school computer instead of (presumably) Internet Explorer. I wonder how his teacher even noticed? It's not like there's enough of a difference in the way the two browsers work that it could be spotted across the room.
11th Grader Given Detention For Using Firefox [Gadget Lab]
Update: Our own Cory follows up on this story. Seems not everything is as it seems:
I just spoke to the principal of the high-school -- nice enough fellow. According to him:* The kid altered the document after scanning it
* The kid was punished for mouthing off to the teacher, not for using Firefox
* The kid had been asked to work in Word on a resume (the assignment) and kept looking at the Web instead (and this was a recurring problem)
* The kid has admitted this and will be posting a followup/correction/retraction today
Update 2: The school's principal has responded.
The reports, blogs and other sources on the Internet indicating that a Big Spring student was assigned detention for using the Firefox internet browser instead of Internet Explorer are untrue and were based on the fake letter. Detention is assigned in our schools after appropriate warnings are given. If students continue to engage in non-academic activities or fail to follow a teacher’s directive during class time, discipline can and will be assigned.
And that kid thought he was on their shit list before.
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You just have to love the bureaucracy of high schools in America.
The teachers computer may have a program to monitor the activities of the lab computers. Or maybe a program like WinVNC.
Poor kid. He made the mistake of thinking that he was having a conversation with a human being, rather than being given instructions by a bureaucracybot.
Actually, he was given a detention for violating the school's AUP, and ignoring the teacher's instructions, despite repeated warnings. So, please, extinguish all torches and return your pitchforks to the armorer; the student got what he deserved, and when his actions generated consequences, he went crying to the interwebs, shouting "Opression!"
Maybe the teacher noticed that he was actually getting things done and not having to re-boot all the time. Can't have that in the class room after all.
Hey, @3, you mean the student didn't kowtow to authority but tried to point out that despite deviating from convention he was actually, like, getting work done. But apparently you think obedience is more important than intelligence.
@TOM:
Word.
I just spoke to the principal of the high-school -- nice enough fellow. According to him:
* The kid altered the document after scanning it
* The kid was punished for mouthing off to the teacher, not for using Firefox
* The kid had been asked to work in Word on a resume (the assignment) and kept looking at the Web instead (and this was a recurring problem)
* The kid has admitted this and will be posting a followup/correction/retraction today
If the problem is an obedience issue, then the wording on the detention slip is really misleading...
To me it looks like someone who's got an ego problem and lacks the technological background to teach the subject.
@Cory: Can't believe you actually called the school to find that out. That's dedication, my friend. Seriously though, the story would've been a lot more fun if it were true.
Maffiou, according to the principal, the memo was doctored.
@9 & Cory - checking sources is so MSM
holy shit, got him! what an sob.
i have a friend who was given detention circa 1989 for cleaning a mouse in the mac lab. the teacher saw him take the trackball out of the mouse and accused him of trying to install a virus on the computer.
When they say that the kid doctored the docuement, are they talking about the redacted names, or something more substantial?