Should the internet be censored?

This is the title of a magazine article in Winter 2007 ‘Posted’. Posted is the post office’s magazine , I read today while waiting in a long queue at the post office.

I like many others believe the internet should not be censored and the responsibility for acting on information should come from the person using the data. For example, having seen messages left by friends on unattended computers, I would not pay too much heed to Facebook if I was thinking of employing them for a job. I also enjoy the growth of citizen journalism where you can read others work on the net. I don’t read the stuff I don’t like, acting as a personal censor.

So….

I was interested to read what a teacher had said about rate my teacher . The teacher said ‘I’ve had teachers on the phone to me because of what’s been said. It would be easy to say, ‘Don’t look on the site.’ But it’s difficult when we invest so much of ourselves in our job not to want to know what is being said about us.’

Out of professional curiosity (and the fact that all of my in-laws are teachers (current or retired)) I went onto the site and searched for people I knew. Sadly none of the family were featured. We did look up teachers from Mr Tosh’s school and compare the website’s notes against his memory. Quite refreshingly accurate. There was nothing about the teachers professional life, only their ability as teachers. On the basis on this limited research, my advice to a crying teacher would be -

be grateful for the feedback – the kids probably have a point. If the feedback is childish, remember it comes from a teenager and you don’t have to sink to their level.

How would I feel if there was a public website like this for consultants? Well, as our business grows from developing relationships and working with firms, this would probably go down well. My only concern is that all of the big egos involved in my line of work would add their own testimonials on how good they are (I wonder if teachers do this?)