Republican’s Push for “Safer” Internet
March 12, 2008 by bicej
Over the past seven weeks all kinds of articles have been filing into my Google Reader account but the articles that come in more than any others are articles that use scare tactics to push parents and school districts away from computer (technology) use. I can’t begin to count how many articles I’ve read that include anti-technology propaganda in it. The most recent article I read was just too much for me not to comment on; so here I go.
This article, Rep. Pushes Internet Safety Policies for Public Schools, in my opinion is the holy grail of anti-technology propaganda. It starts out with this quote:
“You can lock the doors and windows, hold their hand at the mall, and buy training wheels for their bikes. But a major danger facing kids today is right above the keyboard.” The article goes on to say “They [internet predators] groom their victims” (Mason).
In short the article details new legislation that will make internet usage at public schools “safer”, but what does “safer” mean in regards to internet usage? The article never really goes into great detail about what the legislation or schools for that matter plan on doing to make the internet “safer” but one quote in the article leads me to a clear understanding of what “safer” means to the schools.
“Swampscott reminds the user that his or her RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH is suspended when using the school’s network” (Mason).
I am not an overly optimistic person who believes that all students would use technological resources in a productive manner; but when did it get ok to presume that all students were going to misuse their technological resources? To suspend students Free Speech may be legal for schools to do but where are we as a society going to draw the line? Today students can’t write about their feelings on their personal blogs while at school, tomorrow they can’t have personal blogs at all, and next Wednesday they are going to be monitored at all times while on the internet.
From an educational stand point, how is a teacher going to promote the use of a blog assignment when students are not even allowed to access the site to begin with? The ironic part about all of this that I’m advocating the use of technology in classrooms, like blogs or social networking sites, through the use of a social network. I know for a fact that I take my writing more seriously when it is going to be published on my blog because it is out there for the world to see. I would love to have my students feel the sense of accomplishment I get when someone reads my blog and appreciates my ideas but if anti-technology propaganda trends continue I fear they will never know that feeling.
Rep Pushes Internet Safety Policies for Public Schools
by Salem News (Edward Mason)
February 14, 2008
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The ironic part about my comments is that I am responding on a blog and will post this link on my social networking site. We need to teach kids how to be safe on the internet not fear mongering tatics. That is why legislators should increase money not laws for organizations like isafe.
http://www.isafe.org teaches students, parents, and seniors how to avoid becoming victimized online.
If only the legislators would hear us!
The problem with a lot of proposed laws is that they are worded horribly. So, instead of everyone behind it, you have various groups opposing, due to the freedoms the bill would squash. Sooner or later, everyone will realize this issue just a technology driven version of telling kids not to talk to strangers and not letting them go to the playgrounds alone that was so huge in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Parents now just have to get used to the 21st century playground, and the technology it incurs. Educate yourself. Discuss with your kids. Protect them with monitoring software (we recommend ours: PC Pandora) — and your own brain!
Your post was quiet interesting, Jack. It made me begin to think about how I will allow my future students (and kids) to search the internet. I do think that children, especially when they’re younger, should be monitored when using the internet. They don’t have the common sense skills that an older student typically would and there’s no sense in being punished because one of your third graders clicked on a ‘naughty’ site while you were having coffee and not paying attention. But from reading your post I see now that students have almost no freedom whatsoever when it comes to the internet.
This is my first time using a blogging program and I can already see its benefits for utilizing it in the classroom. I would want my students to be able to freely discuss their opinions on papers or books that we read while having the opportunity to talk about other appropriate items they have on their minds. I firmly agree with your view on how more serious I am writing a blog because it is out there for anyone to look at and I think that students would feel the same way. Students would enjoy the opportunity to do something different like a blog and I think take on the responsibility that comes with writing one. We should put more trust into them, and try not to let the ‘bad’ few ruin it for the rest.
Hey do any of you kids wanna go into a private chat? Just kidding . . . Yeeesh . . . Too soon? I think the whole idea of online predation is a government plot to scare people into allowing online monitoring. Well, that might be an overstatement. No doubt there are some real sicko’s out there. Nobody’s questioning that. But the issue of safety, and exactly how unsafe are our kids actually are online is completely overblown. If I was a parent (and thank god I’m not), I’d be one hell of a lot more worried about my kid hanging out at the mall, or over at his shady friend’s house, or god knows what outside the home. I was surfing the web when I was sixteen, and I can’t recall a single time my computer ever offered me pot. That’s a hell of a lot more than I can say about some of my high school friends.
If they are consciously fear mongering, and know that the dangers of social networking sites are overblown, I find myself asking the question, what do these people stand to gain by adding to the fear culture? Where is all this resistance to social networking stemming from? Does anyone have any theories on this subject?
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