Education Briefs
The Chinese-owned social media video-sharing platform, TikTok, mostly used by schoolchildren for creating music videos, is under fire by a coalition of privacy, education and parental organizations. Led by a group called the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood (CCFC), the coalition wants the Federal Trade Commission to take punitive action against TikTok for failure to destroy "the personal information collected from users under age 13 and to check the age of new customers." The CCFC complaint charges that TikTok is continuing to "flout the law" by ignoring the millions of underage children who use its app, putting them "at risk of sexual predation." The FTC fined TikTok several years ago for not knowing the ages of the children using its services, resulting in the company promising to delete underage user videos and better protect its customers. That, says CCFC, has not happened, and the group is seeking a prompt investigation of TikTok along with further penalties. (WorldNetDaily, 6-1-20)
Referring to racial unrest in the U.S. and some European countries, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that his country "would not let violent rioters destroy France's stautes" or rewrite French history. He promised that his government will do all it can to fight racism but that "this noble fight is perverted when it turns into communitarianism, into a false rewriting of history." Macron acknowledged that his country's former misdeeds would be remembered, but that France would not "take down any statue." Perhaps the U.S. government should likewise vow to preserve our history and monuments. (Daily Wire News 6-15-20)
Following a virtual class session during the COVID-19 lockdown, a Baltimore County, Maryland school notified police that someone had observed a BB gun in a student's bedroom. The Fox news television affiliate reported that the 11-year-old student's mother said the officer who showed up at her door was "very nice" and explained that "he was here to search for weapons in my home." She allowed the officer to come in and he found the BB gun in her son's bedroom, reportedly mounted on a pegboard. It had been visible on the child's laptop during his virtual class. The mother admitted the action left her "flabbergasted," saying she thought the intrusion "outrageous," and "how many 11-year-old boys have BB guns?" She said the school principal compared her son's having a BB gun in his bedroom to bringing a gun to school. (Breitbart News 6-12-20)
An Oregon high school football coach who prevented a possible school shooting by disarming a gunman was honored in April for his heroism. The incident happened in May of 2019 when a student at Parkrose High School in Portland became distraught while brandishing a firearm. The coach, Keanon Lowe, who played football for the University of Oregon, comforted the student after getting control of the gun, and kept him calm until police arrived. Investigators later said the student suffered from mental health problems and only intended to harm himself. Along with five other honorees, Lowe received the Congressional Medal of Honor citizen distinction award for heroism. (Fox News, 3-31-20)
There's no tolerance in academia for any real diversity on college campuses, claims an Ivy League Professor. Cornell University's William Jacobson says: "You cannot deviate one iota or they will try to get you kicked out of the school, they will falsely accuse you of being racist, they will do a 'name and shame' campaign against you." Jacobson takes "contrary positions" from those of the left on his website, and says the opposition since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis "has been unprecedented." A variety of student groups, alumni and faculty are urging Cornell to fire the professor for "publicly critiquing BLM's ideology." (Washington Free Beacon, 6-14-20)
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