Oh by all means, let’s teach schoolkids more about copyright.

Let’s teach them that nothing made during their lifetime will enter the public domain, if it ever does, because the laws keep getting retroactively expanded anytime it looks like something might do so. Teach them that because of this, any remixes or rehashes, fanfics or fan made films exist only at the ‘generous’ whims of the copyright holder, and can be crushed at any time.

Let’s teach them that sharing a song, or ripping a copy for a friend to listen to, something I imagine most of them would do or have done without a thought, is not only illegal, it carries a potential fine large enough to purchase a decent car or even house, despite the fact that said songs can be bought for a buck each.

Let’s teach them that the likes of the *AA’s are constantly pushing the idea that it’s everyone else’s job to act as unpaid copyright cops, making it risky for online services like youtube to host user created content without bending over backwards to try and ‘appease’ copyright owners, and that if the *AA’s and their like had their ways, services like youtube, VCR’s, MP3 players, and anything like them, would not exist.

Let’s teach them about how completely and utterly one-sided the law is, where there is no penalty for making a bogus claim that gets something taken down wrongly, and the only risk is if a site or service doesn’t do so immediately.

Let’s teach them that simply having a radio where anyone else can hear it is considered a ‘public performance’, and collection agencies will try to shake down anyone who does so, that those same collection agencies will demand payment even from businesses that don’t play their music just in case they do, and that in at least one instance this has led to a collection agency demanding payment for library workers reading to children.

Indeed, let’s educate schoolkids about copyright, and remove any vestiges of respect they may have otherwise had for it due to ignorance on the subject.