wake up, it's 1984

A school district in Illinois is requiring their students to sign a pledge that they won't participate in "illegal or inappropriate" behavior at any time, even when they're off campus.

The board of Community High School District 128 voted unanimously on Monday to require that all students participating in extracurricular activities sign a pledge agreeing that evidence of "illegal or inappropriate" behavior posted on the Internet could be grounds for disciplinary action.

Eighty percent of the students in the district participate in extracurricular activities, so it's a this will impact a significant number of students. And who decides what's inappropriate? The school board, of course, who will be monitoring the students' blogs.

District officials won't regularly search students' sites, but will monitor them if they get a worrisome tip from another student, a parent or a community member.

What a student does away from school is none of the school board's business. The people who should be reading these students' blogs (and acting on anything they find worrisome in there) are their parents. If a student is stupid enough to blog about illegal activity, then it would be appropriate for law enforcement to get involved. But a school board acting as a morality police, determining what's appropriate for teenagers and what isn't crosses a line that shouldn't be crossed.