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misterxI hate adult stupidity directed at kids.
Read this article:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/columnists/dave_lieber/7643262.html
It happened at this school:
http://www.birdville.k12.tx.us/043/admin/location.htm
and then read my response, posted below. I sent it as an open letter to the school principal, cc'ing the computer teacher, the author of the article, and the editor of the local paper.
From: Vaughn Teegarden
To: Tommy_Rollins@birdville.k12.tx.us
Cc: Beverly_Sweeney@birdville.k12.tx.us;
dlieber@star-telegram.com;
letters@star-telegram.com
Sent: 1/9/04 7:12 AM
Subject: Open Letter Regarding Carl Grimmer
Dear Mr. Rollins-
I have read about the case of Carl Grimmer, and I am
compelled to write. Mr. Rollins, by deciding to make an
example of Carl, you have hurt your cause by ridiculously
overreacting to something that doesn't even constitute an
offense.
Furthermore, it is hard to believe that a teacher, let
alone a supposedly knowledgable computer teacher, would
regard Carl's actions as "tampering" or "hacking" or
malicious in any way. What this reveals is a lack of
knowledge on Ms. Sweeney's part, and perhaps a vindictive
nature as well. If Ms. Sweeney understood the simple "NET
SEND" command used by Carl, she would know it is a harmless
messaging method from earlier days.
It is clear that Ms. Sweeney, faced with a hole in her
computer knowledge, reacted to her ignorance and an
unfamiliar situation with fear, and chose to scapegoat Carl
Grimmer rather than learn what the actual severity of the
situation was. If anything, Carl should be praised for
doing extra credit work in his computer class. For those
who don't understand, I'll explain how it worked.
When I used to work at a civil engineering firm doing
computer-aided mapping and design, we used the "NET SEND"
command to message each other with questions or comments
throughout the day. You could either "NET SEND NAME" to
send a message to a specific computer, or "NET SEND *" to
send the message to everyone. This is *UTTERLY HARMLESS*!!!
It worked for Carl just like it is supposed to work, it is
an installed command, and he used it just like it was meant
to be used. This is not hacking, dear people. This is
basically Microsoft Internet Messenger for DOS.
His only crime here is having knowledge beyond that of his
teacher. I hope you and Ms. Sweeney will apologize to Carl,
and remove this incident from his record. We need
intelligent kids like him. Please do not stifle his
interest in learning beyond what he is taught. Please do
not stifle the interest of every kid like him.
Sincerely-
Vaughn Teegarden
Read this article:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/columnists/dave_lieber/7643262.html
It happened at this school:
http://www.birdville.k12.tx.us/043/admin/location.htm
and then read my response, posted below. I sent it as an open letter to the school principal, cc'ing the computer teacher, the author of the article, and the editor of the local paper.
From: Vaughn Teegarden
To: Tommy_Rollins@birdville.k12.tx.us
Cc: Beverly_Sweeney@birdville.k12.tx.us;
dlieber@star-telegram.com;
letters@star-telegram.com
Sent: 1/9/04 7:12 AM
Subject: Open Letter Regarding Carl Grimmer
Dear Mr. Rollins-
I have read about the case of Carl Grimmer, and I am
compelled to write. Mr. Rollins, by deciding to make an
example of Carl, you have hurt your cause by ridiculously
overreacting to something that doesn't even constitute an
offense.
Furthermore, it is hard to believe that a teacher, let
alone a supposedly knowledgable computer teacher, would
regard Carl's actions as "tampering" or "hacking" or
malicious in any way. What this reveals is a lack of
knowledge on Ms. Sweeney's part, and perhaps a vindictive
nature as well. If Ms. Sweeney understood the simple "NET
SEND" command used by Carl, she would know it is a harmless
messaging method from earlier days.
It is clear that Ms. Sweeney, faced with a hole in her
computer knowledge, reacted to her ignorance and an
unfamiliar situation with fear, and chose to scapegoat Carl
Grimmer rather than learn what the actual severity of the
situation was. If anything, Carl should be praised for
doing extra credit work in his computer class. For those
who don't understand, I'll explain how it worked.
When I used to work at a civil engineering firm doing
computer-aided mapping and design, we used the "NET SEND"
command to message each other with questions or comments
throughout the day. You could either "NET SEND NAME" to
send a message to a specific computer, or "NET SEND *" to
send the message to everyone. This is *UTTERLY HARMLESS*!!!
It worked for Carl just like it is supposed to work, it is
an installed command, and he used it just like it was meant
to be used. This is not hacking, dear people. This is
basically Microsoft Internet Messenger for DOS.
His only crime here is having knowledge beyond that of his
teacher. I hope you and Ms. Sweeney will apologize to Carl,
and remove this incident from his record. We need
intelligent kids like him. Please do not stifle his
interest in learning beyond what he is taught. Please do
not stifle the interest of every kid like him.
Sincerely-
Vaughn Teegarden
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no subject
on 2004-01-09 08:29 am (UTC)btw, sounds like she hates her job. what is with teachers hating to teach?! WHY do they keep teaching?! we all had teachers like that and we KNEW that they hated having to even look at us. that's no environment condusive to learning and growing! are they TRYING to fuck us up? turn us into jaded bitter (at best) adults like themselves?
no subject
on 2004-01-09 08:47 am (UTC)Good letter V, let us know if you get a response, I'd love to see what they have to say.
no subject
on 2004-01-09 09:31 am (UTC)no subject
on 2004-01-09 09:40 am (UTC)It was great, ten years later, running into him while he was struggling to lug a case of beer out of ShopRite, and realizing what a pathetic loser he was.
no subject
on 2004-01-09 11:58 am (UTC)Great reply to them :)
NET SEND foo
on 2004-01-09 10:05 pm (UTC)