Friday, April 5, 2013

Merino, Noel. Privacy.


Merino, Noel.  Privacy.  Cengage (Gale/Blackbirch/Greenhaven)     2012  155p  $28.45  978-0-7377-5830-6  series: Teen Rights and Freedoms.  hs VG-BNS
     
This is an anthology of essays related to teen privacy, including school searches, drug testing, and consent for abortion.  The concept that children and teens have rights independent of their parents is a relatively new notion.  Although not explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, privacy has come to be recognized as a fundamental right of  all American citizens.  In Privacy, readers explore essays and articles regarding the right to privacy and the responsibilities that right entails.  In addition to a diverse selection of articles drawn from journals, magazines, newspapers, nonfiction books, organizational newsletters, position papers, speeches, and other documents, special emphasis is given to Supreme Court and lower-court decisions and government documents.  First-person narratives bring an important human element to the topic.  To develop critical thinking, it would have been useful to include questions or prompts to springboard discussion.

Teen issues regarding privacy arise
because children under the age of eighteen are minors and their rights under the law differ from those of adults.  However, as teenagers approach adulthood, the demarcation blurs and privacy issues have become controversial, with regards to contraception, medical care, treatment at school, and the use of electronic media.  A first-person narrative by a teen who was strip-searched at school as part of a drug search is sure to prompt reader response.

Each selection includes an overview to provide context and background.  An annotated table of contents is helpful in providing
the highlights of court decisions and personal narratives, while illustrations, a brief chronology, an annotated list of organizations to contact, and a bibliography for further reading rounds out the volume.

Although the style is dry and academic, the text is informative
, and student researchers and debaters will find this volume to be a useful source on issues of teen privacy, as it explores the controversies from many viewpoints and offers historic and contemporary views on the topic.           
Privacy                                                     --Hilary Welliver

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