In which we do not exactly love a potential PF topic

I scouted around a bit to discover why the Natfolk are releasing the topics early this year, but came up with nothing. Not a big deal, really, and frankly, with a local tournament for us the weekend of 9/9, which is not unusual country-wide, I would imagine that, for most people, the earlier the better.

While scouting about, I uncovered the potential topics for PF for Sept-Oct, which is now a two-month spread:

OPTION 1 – Resolved: In United States public K-12 schools, the probable cause standard ought to apply to searches of students.

OPTION 2 - Resolved: United States public K-12 schools should be allowed to regulate students' off-campus electronic speech.

If you are planning on voting for option two, I would love to know why. With little or no thought on my part, I find it hard to imagine great arguments for why you ought to delegate one hundred percent of your first amendment rights to your public school. Obviously plenty of damage can be done by bad speech, and bad speech, especially on the internet, is a problem. But this is a possible solution? The bind moggles. Option 1, on the other hand, is an old LD classic with plenty of meat on its bones even for the more evidentiary PF diet.

I have to wonder, although it’s probably beside the point in rounds, how the pro would enable the regulation. Maybe all the teachers should friend their students on Facebook, and then trawl for trolls? Or maybe just lie in wait: be a bastard in the classroom and see if anybody responds “This schmuck is a bastard” on line. Or maybe use Snapchat. That gives the school administration a good ten seconds to track down miscreants. Ought to be plenty of time.

Whatever. It doesn't make sense because it's silly, not because you can't come up with a reasonable plan to affect it. Schools have enough trouble (legal, philosophical and practical) regulating behavior in schools. At the point where they also regulate behavior out of the schools, well, I'm glad I won't have to argue about it. Or listen to anyone else doing so. 

---

/