Student protests school blocking conservative websites, but not liberal ones

A high school student in Connecticut has asked the Board of Education to look into the blocking of conservative and Chrstian websites by his school.

Eighteen year old Adam Lampart found that he could access pro-gun control sites but not the NRA. He also discovered that the state GOP website was blocked while the Democratic party page was available.

The censorship also included blocking Christian sites but not Muslim ones.

Washington Times:

He said he discovered the discrepancies while trying to research gun control for a classroom debate and couldn’t access the National Rifle Association’s website.

“So I went over to the other side,” he told local WTIC. “And I went over on sites such as Moms Demand Action or Newtown Action Alliance, and I could get on these websites but not the others.”

Mr. Lampart then looked into the issue further.

“I immediately found out that the State Democrat website was unblocked but that the State GOP website was blocked,” he said, adding that he also found “right-to-life” groups were blocked, but that Planned Parenthood and Pro-Choice weren’t, CBS reported. And other findings: Christianity.com was blocked, as was the Vatican’s site — but not Islam-guide.com, he said.

“They’re trying to, in my opinion, shelter us from what’s actually going on around the country and around the world by blocking these websites,” he said. “It should be the other way around. The websites should be unblocked so that students can get different viewpoints from different sides of each argument.”

Mr. Lampart said he told the superintendent of Woodbury schools of the issue, but no action was taken. He then took his query to the Board of Education.

“It’s not a joking matter in terms of having access to both sides of an issue,” Chairman John Chapman told local WTIC. “The Board appreciated hearing the comments from Andrew and agree hat he has raised an important issue that warrants further investigation.”

This is not a rare occurrence. It's not only schools that ban conservative or Christian websites, it's public libraries and many public computers like those found in coffee houses. No doubt the good liberals running that school would say they only wanted to ban "extremist" websites, or websites that might "offend" others. They are probably shocked to discover some people think they are censoring political debate - or not. Their cluelessness should not be discounted given their warped worldview, especially as it relates to offending Muslim students who may accidentally stumble upon a Christian website.

Guiding young minds to "think correctly" is, they feel, part of their mission. To that end, only approved thought is allowed to be accessed. Let's see if the school board follows through and restores the banned websites.

 

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