Why All Schools Should Use Macs

[njmac]

I saw this on Digg:

Link

Imagine you know next to nothing about computers. You're a substitute teacher for a seventh grade class. There's a computer in the classroom and, knowing you're going to be sitting there for a while, you ask a fulltime teacher if you can use it. He logs you in with his password and tells you not to shut it off because you couldn't get back on.
Not that you have a clue about this stuff, but that computer is running Windows 98 and the outdated Internet Explorer 6.02. Its filtering and anti-virus software have expired, and it has no anti-spyware software.

You step out of the classroom for a moment. When you get back the kids are clustered around the computer, checking out hairstyle websites. But one is actually a link to porn sites, and it loads a Trojan onto the unprotected computer.

Suddenly, pop-ups start appearing — X-rated popups.

You start to panic. You're not supposed to shut the machine and you don't realize you can just shut the monitor. You try to block the screen, but — like normal seventh graders — the kids are curious and pushy.

You run to the teacher's lounge for help. Finally you get some and the crisis ends. But the kids have seen the porn. They tell their parents. The parents tell the school.

You tell the school administrators what happened, but they don't bother (or don't know how) to check the computer for the adware you described. Instead they fire you.

And soon you're arrested and charged with four counts of "risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child." You're facing 40 years in prison.

The teacher should have turned off the computer but once again, people are blowing this way, way out of proportion.

 

[Osarkon]

Yeah read about this last week or sometime, it was blown out of proportion.

Yes, the teacher should have turned the computer off. But at the same time, there was no need for the school to go and fire the teacher over something like that. The kids will most likely have seen porn anyway in this day and age, it's everywhere. Especially if they have a computer at home.

 

[njmac]

I'm more ok with firing than prosecuting. She could be sentenced to 40 years in prison

 

[Sherman Homan]

You run to the teacher's lounge for help.

End of issue.

 

[Jomoma]

As a technology teacher, I've read a lot about this case. Basically, it was the school's fault. They had no antivirus or spyware software, were running win 98 and basically were in the dark ages on protecting students from the awful stuff on the internet. She was also told not to turn off the computer. Sure, it makes sense to us to turn off the monitor or shut the computer down, but think about the technological sophistication of the middle school teachers you had. Most older teachers have given up on keeping up with technology (if they ever did). So in the end, the responsibility of the whole situation rests on the IT department (or whoever sets up and fixes the computers). It should be very hard to access bad content at any school and not pop up accidently through innocent normal web use.

Just my two cents. Hopefully they do the right thing and let her go.

 

[Sesshi]

Yeah - I don't get it.

Why did the IT department (if they have one) let it get so bad? And if they don't have one, are the teachers trained to be 'IT guys'? If not, what responsibility can each teacher be reasonably expected to have?

 

[Sherman Homan]

Yeah - I don't get it.
Why did the IT department (if they have one) let it get so bad? And if they don't have one, are the teachers trained to be 'IT guys'? If not, what responsibility can each teacher be reasonably expected to have?

She shouldn't be fired or jailed, but the "IT department" should be. Suppose she jumped into her car like she does every day, but it had just come back from the mechanic and the brakes don't work, the windows randomly open and close, the horn starts blaring for no reason and she had been told not to shut it off. (Sounds like the automotive equivalent of a Windows 98 machine!)
Should she be fired? Or the mechanic?

 

[Jomoma]

She shouldn't be fired or jailed, but the "IT department" should be. Suppose she jumped into her car like she does every day, but it had just come back from the mechanic and the brakes don't work, the windows randomly open and close, the horn starts blaring for no reason and she had been told not to shut it off. (Sounds like the automotive equivalent of a Windows 98 machine!)
Should she be fired? Or the mechanic?

Exactly, except she was fired and faces up to 40 years in jail! That's just stupid.