Adam B. Kushner has a great piece in the Washington Examiner about Sen. John McCain’s commencement address at Columbia last week that was “cloaked in a terrifically condescending homily about the arrogance of youth.” NEW YORK – Last week, as they sat in the pouring rain, John McCain insulted Columbia’s graduating class. He also delivered…
Somewhat related to the last post about the War on MySpace, now this is a case of schools using information posted on student’s websites and MySpace pages to punish them. The Chicago Tribune did a story on it, and asked for our comments. Excerpts: A north suburban school district could become one of the first…
On an unseasonably cold May afternoon, I left my internship a little early to meet some old acquaintances on the steps in front of New York City Hall. Another member of The National Youth Rights Association had heard about Lew Fidler’s bill to end the cell phone ban in New York City schools, and he…
Well it was bound to happen. With all the media hysteria over MySpace, any student of our opportunistic elected officials should have known what was coming next. Congress has proposed a bill that would ban MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal, and potentially all chatrooms, forums, blogs & Instant Messaging from school & library computers. More info here….
A new project of New York City Indymedia, IndyKids, has been censored by two area library systems. After agreeing to distribute IndyKids to their local branches, both the New York Public Library and the Queens Public Library changed their minds and now refuse to distribute the paper. They say the reason for their decision is…
This is a message to parents about controlling their TV and computer. Yes, your cable or satellite services comes with parental controls, as do your computer’s ISP, anti-virus software, and anything else you have loaded onto it. With these, you can restrict and monitor the activity of others on these devices, specifically your children. This…
To me, school uniforms are so vehemently opposed by young people in the United States because they violate our individual-centured culture. In other countries, such as east Asian, Native-American, or African cultures, uniforms do not arouse the same level of ire because their cultures are collective in nature. Uniforms, because of their inherent nature, seem…
NYRA member Chris Batchelor, better known to some as “Galen,” has won two decisive victories for Student’s Rights. Chris has a friend who had to do a report on the USA Patriot Act for school. When the student was told he could not use a picture of a man burning the American flag, he contacted…
NYRA Vice-President Johnathan McClure has started a local NYRA chapter at the University of North Dakota. College campuses are a great place for Youth Rights activity, where a high concentration competent, politically active young people are still affected by ageist policy. The chapter, already officially recognized by the University, is thinking of possibly taking action…
There are many websites on the Internet dedicated to humor. These sites, while often very funny, sometimes have ageist disclaimers. Often a website will have something that says their material is not appropriate for individuals under the age of eighteen. NYRA member Jessica Jordan decided to do something about it. She has written letters to…
