Saturday, November 26, 2005
Would somebody please think of the children?!?
So I just read this article here. Essentially, a high school in New Jersey has issued an edict prohibiting its students from participating in the "blogosphere". No blogs, no websites, no profiles on online community sites.
Why? To protect the students (both the blogging, and the blogged about) from online predators.
Parents are thrilled with the idea. One has thanked the school for the idea and gone so far as to block her kid's access to the Internet at home completely. The principal, Rev. Kieran McHugh, is taking a hardline:
Sadly, it's not gonna work. It's ironic that a school, of all places, forsakes eduating its students about the dangers of this technology in favour of a carpetban. All you'll do is drive its use underground. Instead of the popular blog services, students will frequent lesser known ones. Instead of using school and home computers, which can at least be monitored, students will use a friend's computer, an Internet cafe, or a wireless hotspot. Honestly - in a technological cloak-and-dagger battle, do you think the 50-year-old parochials will win, or the teenaged whiz kids?
What frightens me the most is the possibility that students will, despite the ban, keep blogging. After all, what's an expulsion compared to sharing your inane thoughts on the web, right? Teenagers do, after all, have messed up priorities.
And then Rev. McHugh's nightmare will come true: at least one student will be approached by a seedy character. And this student will not have been educated about how to detect and avoid these people. And even if the student realized his error and wanted help, that student might not wish to risk the certain disciplinary action if he came forward and asked for help. After all, teenagers have those messed up priorities, right?
Edict over education? What an academic way of thinking.
Why? To protect the students (both the blogging, and the blogged about) from online predators.
Parents are thrilled with the idea. One has thanked the school for the idea and gone so far as to block her kid's access to the Internet at home completely. The principal, Rev. Kieran McHugh, is taking a hardline:
"I don't see this as censorship," McHugh said this week. "I believe we are teaching common civility, courtesy and respect." [...] "If this protects one child from being near-abducted or harassed or preyed upon, I make no apologies for this stance,"McHugh said. (from the linked article)
Sadly, it's not gonna work. It's ironic that a school, of all places, forsakes eduating its students about the dangers of this technology in favour of a carpetban. All you'll do is drive its use underground. Instead of the popular blog services, students will frequent lesser known ones. Instead of using school and home computers, which can at least be monitored, students will use a friend's computer, an Internet cafe, or a wireless hotspot. Honestly - in a technological cloak-and-dagger battle, do you think the 50-year-old parochials will win, or the teenaged whiz kids?
What frightens me the most is the possibility that students will, despite the ban, keep blogging. After all, what's an expulsion compared to sharing your inane thoughts on the web, right? Teenagers do, after all, have messed up priorities.
And then Rev. McHugh's nightmare will come true: at least one student will be approached by a seedy character. And this student will not have been educated about how to detect and avoid these people. And even if the student realized his error and wanted help, that student might not wish to risk the certain disciplinary action if he came forward and asked for help. After all, teenagers have those messed up priorities, right?
Edict over education? What an academic way of thinking.
