OpportuNETy

Hannah Chi, Valerie Choung, Zahra Gill, Kate Lin, Sabrina Liu, Christine Yu

by team fun-eral

Mission Statement

At OpportuNETy

STudents will be able to more conveniently access valuable and educational material.

Students will be able to exercise their abilities to make key decisions and lead change in fusd

FUSD will adjust Internet restrictions accordingly for different levels of education (elementary, junior high, etc.).

FUSD will trust students’ judgements and impose the changes proposed given that they are reasonable and follow federal law.

wELCOME to amERICA

land of the free and home of the brave, where one can express oneself without fear of repercussion. Here, we are lucky to have our right to freedom of expression protected by the First Amendment. Have a problem with the government? Feel free to make a petition. Want to tell your story? The world is your oyster. We’re used to such a degree of freedom here, so today we’re going to tell you a story about another society-- one that you may not be so familiar with. It starts out innocent enough.

It first began in schools, with the banning of various books such as Fifty Shades of Grey and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was only fair to ban such sexually explicit texts; it was all done to protect the children. Then they thought, “We ought to also ban the book The Kite Runner; such a grotesque and explicit rape scene surely is not fit for the children. Furthermore, let’s ban other books with violent and sexually explicit scenes. Let’s ban To Kill a Mockingbird and The Diary of Anne Frank. We must protect the children. Once we’re done with that, let’s ban Fahrenheit 451 because it talks about banning things, but don’t forget to ban Brave New World because it claims that censored states are dystopian; after all, schools must control what can be seen or read for the safety of the children. But wait. That's not enough. Let’s also ban music, news, magazines, movies, pictures, maps, and games that could fester in people such a poisonous idea as that there is much, much more out there than we have ever been allowed to know."

"We must ban thoughtcrime.”

So where, in such a modern day and age, does such a society exist?

Welcome to America.

A letter to joseph siam

Your system of firewalls, most would suppose

Protects and shields from anything that shows

Explicit and implicit of any taboo matter

That apparently, for us, our purity would shatter

So why do they persevere to decrease our rectitude?

With every year, they see only our ineptitude

To discern wrong from right and right from wrong,

They’ve belittled our abilities, our courage, our strong.

Determined to learn, excited to seek

We come here to coalesce into something unique

To find but little trust that flakes away with time

Suspected of nothing but ostensible crime

And to our guardians, like dormant protectors,

Who are you preserving but the fanciful specters?

What they cannot perceive, we must speak

Continue to couch our words with power and sleek

Quixotic ideas sewn together by unpracticed hands

Choked by restrictions and “well thought out plans”

We understand your motives, your honorable intent

But look at the numbers, look at how much we’ve spent!

Our pockets empty, but our minds are replete

With the curiosity and inclination that makes us complete

Don’t let us shrivel in ignorance but let us discuss

Expose us to the reality that was stolen from us

So if you could just listen, we would like to propose

A solution, potentially, to those who oppose

Let us speak, let us freely express!

Let us influence the verdict of what society thinks is best.

Our perspective should be seen as equally significant

Our minds zealous and fervid as our belligerent

We are more capable, more acute than you may believe

Our own judgement and impact will expand what we achieve

What percentage of FUSD students do you think would be willing to help make decisions about our web censorship?