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Old 04-21-2007, 10:53 PM   #44
monster
I hear them call the tide
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
Merc and Ibram. You're both right. But you're talking about different worlds and addressing different parts of a mis-matched either/or question.

Merc, yes of course bill paying parents have the right to put any restrictions they damn well please on the service they are paying for. That said, I agree with Ibram in the main, but my kids are in an alternative school and they and their school mates are not representative of todays youth in general. Ibram, you're home-schooled, right? Sounds like that puts you in the same category as my kids. They do not need internet supervision because their entire schooling is based around self-direction, commmunity awareness, learning skills, responsibilty etc. We trust them and they repay that trust. Yes, of course we check occasionally to make sure, but we do that openly. we don't spy. But we must give them a loing leash, so they can test what we have taught them about internet safety to make sure of it for themselves.

Traditional schooling systems are based around fact learning rather than personal growth, and if you give these kids a long leash, they will use it to hang you out to dry or strangle themselves. Not because they are bad kids, but because they are so unused to the personal freedom they're on a high (but they will probably pass standardized tests with higher scores). So you can't give them a long leash. You do need to spy on their internet access etc. But you know, they're going to do what you don't want them to at the library or a friend's house.....

Oh I'm rambling. Let's get back to the OP

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMercenary View Post
So help me out here... do parents have the right to control what their kids do on the internet in their home, on their computers, when the parents are paying the bill?
yes

Quote:
Or do kids (teens of any age) get to do just whatever the hell they want and the parents are to stand by and let them have full run of the net??
this is not the opposite of the first question. Yes, parents have the right of full control. They can exercise that right, or they can let the kids do whatever they want, or they can find some midpoint.....

Ibram has been pointing this out for some time, but you have refused to listen because he is a teen and because he called you an asshole. Maybe you will also refuse to listen to me. I'm not going to call you an asshole, but I am a woman, fairly liberal/hippy in my outlook and also younger than you.

I think you need to clarify your questions to make a proper either/or scenario. So, do you want to ask

a) Do parents have the right to control internet access int heir house or do kids have a right to unsupervised internet access?

or

b) should parents spy on their children's internet actiivities or should they allow their children free range?

or both? They are different issues but you seem to have managed to equate them.
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