Thanks to a tweet by Clarence, I just listened to a podcast of an angry parent upset with the Langley School District for not blocking social networking sites.
The mother, Beatrice, is conceded some authority by CBC since she has a computer science background. Unfortunately her knowledge of ports and key logging software is about all she has when it comes to her understanding of social networks. Admittedly her 12 year old daughter had been to some less than educational spaces and likely was pursuing content not fit for a 12 year old or anyone. Her reaction was to block all these sites, ban her daughter from the home computer and demand the school district to install content filtering that would prohibit any access to social networks. Craig Spence, a representative from the school division gives a very intelligent response in this interview to her complaints arguing the importance of teaching students about these spaces and recognizing these spaces will still exist outside the school. This article might indicate the school district is buckling somewhat under pressure.
This parent makes a number of comments that demonstrate a lack of understanding and fuels the fire of hysteria and in my opinion, bad judgment.
She admits that living in a rural area, the internet has become “for a lack of a better term, connection” for her daughter. Lack of a better term? That’s exactly what it is…a connection. From her eyes the connection is obviously negative, but that’s got nothing to do with the technology. Her daughter’s connections will remain questionable even without the technology. Her response is to ban her daughter from using their computer until she says,”it will be safe again.” When will that be? When all the nefarious sites have gone away? When her daughter is 18? When she determines that the only value of the internet is looking up stuff?
She worries that a child in grade 3 will be online at school and will accept a date with a stranger thinking it’s another child and will be whisked away by a predator. Once again, there is no case of anything remotely like this. While I understand why she might have this fear, the facts just aren’t getting through. That’s why in part, I don’t just ignore stories like this but feel compelled to speak out. Even the reporter lacked the background information to challenge her claim. I’ve written about this too often to reprise.
She also feels schools should be teaching reading, math, science and computers (how to use a computer) but social networking should be taught in the homes. Think about that statement for a while.
For every site one person deems educational, someone will disagree. For every social network site you block today, three more will arise tomorrow. These are bandaid solutions. Being proactive, supervisory and purposeful are by far the best approaches. Teachers are our best filters at school and parents should be the best at home.
This is why it’s so critical that we continue to promote teachers doing this in Kindergarten and Grade one. At some point we won’t even call it social networking. We’ll just call it learning.
I’ve just paused the recording for a moment to add a couple of comments. Beatrice is talking about restoring deleted files to look at what her daughter had been doing, finding out that she had been on facebook and in adult-oriented chat rooms as well as finding some sexually explicit images. Exploring sexuality is a normal (and necessary) part of adolescence. The graphic images available now are much more explicit than those available when I was young, and that is perhaps a legitimate cause for concern. As a parent, I’d probably be concerned (OK – initially livid, but eventually concerned) about the sexually oriented chat room. I can also understand that the daughter’s growing self-identity includes a sense of her own sexuality. It’s normal, it’s natural and I’m sure it scares a lot of parents. But we need to sit down with our daughters so we can discuss the images and the conversations that are out there, not put them in a locked room that makes them so much more interesting.
I’m also disturbed with Beatrice for her casual invasion of her daughter’s privacy, even if motivated out of a perceived need to protect her. Everyone needs a zone of privacy, especially during adolescence – that’s where a self-identity comes from. What happens to kids who don’t have that as they grow up?
Rob,
There were so many comments she made that made me cringe as I considered her parenting choices. I felt like that would open a whole other can of worms but as you’ve correctly identified, there are some big issues in this area.
A couple of thoughts:
I agree with Rob that i would be concerned if my daughter was in chat room with sexual content. I think your point is key though, banning chilfren from the network is not the solution. Educating from an early age about the proper use of computers/networks is crucial.
Kids know how to use a computer in grade one, even Kindergarten. The,” She also feels schools should be teaching reading, math, science and computers (how to use a computer) but social networking should be taught in the homes” comment is even funny. Where is all this instruction (on social networks) happening now? Not at home. Parents usually have no idea of what there kids are doing on a computer or what they text on a phone! The idea od banning everything just does not work effectively over the long term.
Thanks for pointing out things like this. There often seems to be misplaced effort in the areas of cyber safety and internet blocking, so it’s important that inaccuracies and extremist views are pointed out for what they are by trustworthy members of the community.
I am with you Dean about setting the record straight on the myth of the online predator masking as a kid. I have to fight that battle with people in the school district who would rather bury their heads in the sand rather than educate people with the facts because the news media may spin it the wrong way.
I also agree with Dave Bircher that expecting parents to teach their children about things is like social networks is going to be like also expecting them to explain quantum physics, very few would even know about it much less be able to teach it.
For good or bad, schools are going to have to take the lead on educating both students and parents about the constructive and destructive uses of technology.
Pingback: Spreading the “Good News” « EdTech4Newbies
Personally, I think that social networking within a school environment, is WAY safer than trying to join a social network at home. At home a student may not have any positive resources influencing them, and therefore could get into trouble. In a school environment, a student could collaborate with other students from their class or other classes, and they would know it is a fairly safe environment to share ideas. When a child is left alone, with the whole word at their fingertips they could get into trouble and have no idea how to straighten it up. Even if collaboration was designed for at home use only, it would get really boring if you could only collaborate with your friends.