Blogging is one of the most popular ways to share and receive information today. However, whether it's MySpace, Twitter or a blogging Web site, these tools come with risks. Even if the entries are meant for private reading, they always seem to get out in the open. When the truth is lying out in the open, the events that follow can be troublesome.

Valuable information never stays in one spot, especially when the information is private. Today's technologies aren't making it any better — but worse. Because blogs are displayed via Internet, there will always be a risk for breach of privacy. Even without hackers, there are still those who will stumble upon sensitive information and spill it to others.

A New Jersey restaurant fired two employees for comments they made on a private MySpace forum. They created the forum to express their opinions about their job — mainly their customers and management. Trouble started when another employee showed the site to a manager. One week later, the two who created the forum were fired. Now those employees are suing the restaurant.

It's easy to replace angry workers with new ones, but how about students? Finding a student that cherishes school is hard. A nursing student attending the University of Louisville in Kentucky was expelled for her blog entries. The posts included her opinions on topics such as abortions, patients, gun rights and many others.

Another student at the Art Institute of Portland was expelled for his take on religion. Believe it or not, the conversation that lead to his expulsion was about leprechauns. The student wasn't trying to disprove the idea of leprechauns but rather point out that they can't be scientifically proven. When the student asked why there was not any siding with his religion, the Dean of Student Affairs said that his kind — atheist — wasn't protected as a class of people.

Students shouldn't get such drastic punishments for events that aren't that major. Just because something is not looked upon brightly doesn't mean a student should be removed from the school. At the very least, there should be a warning. There's no good reason to deny education because of opinions. Students shouldn't be forced to oppress the things that make learning enjoyable. After all, opinions are the building blocks of education.

Brandy Clary
Teacher/Empire High School