GEN: Library Behavior

[Denise Moll <demoll@FLASH.NET>]

I have been watching this thread with interest, as it is a a dilemna I
face nearly daily.  My school, a high school, has a written Code of
Conduct which prohibits playing games in school.  (It came about, I
believe, because kids were playing poker, complete with bets.)  That
said, one would think that they should not be playing games in the
school library either. However, many teachers allow cards and computer
games in the classroom, though how these  kids have time for that I
don't know.  (I think this is partly why education gets such a bad rap.)
Subsequently, they are constantly in the media center finding games on
the Web or  telnetting to game sites. I used to think that this was
probably ok at lunch time, but then they started downloading games and
installing them on the machines.  (These guys know every way in the
world around locking programs.)  I would uninstall them, sometimes even
having to reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything on the
machine, then they would get mad and leave little indications of their
anger on the machines.  Finally, to try to prevent the problem I just
said that we would be following the Code of Conduct.  (The principal was
no help; from the beginning he said it was up to me.)  I now have my
computers locked up tighter than ever, patrol constantly and still find
stuff on the machines.  It is now a challenge to them, and they are
rising to it.
That said, if I had it to do over again, I would have not allowed the
games in the first place.  If you let them play chess, they want to know
why they can't play everything else.  After all, computer games are
quiet, and involve thinking skills too.  Call me a grouch, but the
headaches have not been worth it.  There are plenty of other things they
can do with their time in school.

Denise Moll
Media Specialist
Lahser High School
Bloomfield Hills, MI
demoll@flash.net

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