If you'd been lately browsing geek.com – essential reading, I find – you'd likely have come across the sad tale of Devon's King Edward VI College and its expulsion of 14 year old Aaron Bond. Was AB disruptive? Was he violent? A truant? On cannabis? Didn't do his homework? Did he say he preferred Cornwall? Apparently not. AB's crime was to hack the College's IT system. As geek.com puts it:
It seems the administration at King Edward VI College in Devon weren’t too keen on Aaron hacking into the school’s systems and editing its newsletter, messing with room bookings, and poring over student and staff data. Bond’s mother leapt to his aid, saying that he was simply curious “like any school boy would have been.” She went on to say that “the security of the school computer system should be a lot better.”
Actually, geek is rather critical of the lad (and his splendid mother):
Yes, it’s entirely logical to blame the school for your son’s actions, Ms. Bond. Their laxness clearly pushed him over the edge, and even when he was successful he decided that he’d better do it a few more times just to make absolutely sure that his curiosity was satisfied.
AB is not without talent. He has already released six mobile apps and runs his own web design company, and it's hard to disagree with geek when it says ...
He’ll probably do just fine whether or not the College reconsiders.
But the humourless College has failed this test, and so AB is now enrolled elsewhere. I can only hope that this new school appreciates its students' abilities and can put them to good use.
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