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Virginia Becomes First State to Mandate Internet Safety Lessons
kaufmanmoore writes "The Commonwealth of Virginia has become the first state in the nation to require that students in all grade levels receive a form of internet safety lessons. The story is scant on details about the lessons, but describes one recently at a high school where the presenter showed a social-networking profile of a convicted sex offender posing as a 15 year-old girl. "
This is a fine idea - The internet is a treacherous place for children.
But I'd rather see mandatory parenting.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
from the nanny-state dept.
I know the usual kneejerk reaction here to any government act taken in regards to children is to immediately stick one's fingers in one's ears and shout NANNY STATE until one is hoarse, but I really don't see anything especially forbidding about teaching some basic internet safety skills in school.
or maybe it is better to keep all the mommy and daddy basement dwellers in a single location to keep an eye on them.
Spelling and grammar mistakes specifically left in to give the grammar and spelling nazis a meaning to their life.
The lessons will take an "abstinence only" approach, and will feature a videotape titled Internet: A System of Tubes of Terror showing the like-true story of an 18 year old whose accepts an invitation to a slumber party that turns out to take place in the basement bedroom of a 320 lbs., 48 year old furry fan.
If teens stop running up huge credit card debt that there parents end up shouldering, the economy could become dangerously understimulated.
I'm a sophomore in high school in Maryland. My school has had people give speeches on Internet safety multiple times. Typically these lessons serve more to teach inaccuracies about the internet (as the people who teach them tend to know nothing about the internet) and scare people away from the internet based on those falsehoods, then actually teach people how to be safe on the internet. Obviously my experiences are not a guarantee of what will happen in Virginia, but as I said, I have been through these things multiple times and they have never turned out well.
If I pass my internet safety class, do I get an internet license? And must I present proof of license to get internet service?
I mean, I actually like the idea of some sort of internet safety education (which I hope will also include teaching people how NOT to get their machines pwnt), I just don't see how it'll be enforced.
No, I don't want to see the state require what parents must teach their kids. Basic liberty and even biological diversity depend on parents exercising the maximum freedom possible in teaching their kids.
There is a good case for holding parents responsible when their kids break laws their parents should be responsible for teaching them not to break.
But schools should teach kinds the minimum that makes them safe. Kids whose parents already taught them will have it easy, and thereby get a reward, as well has see reinforced the stuff their parents teach them that most kids think is just their own parents' weird hangup, so they're more secure in following it.
And kids whose parents disagree with what the school teaches them can also teach their kids to ignore what the school teaches them, which is probably the most important lesson.
--
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I wish schools would teach people about things they need to do in life such as how to get a house and all the necessary utilities, how to rent an apartment, how to open a bank account and what you might want to do to prepare your finances for the future, how to look for a job, etc.
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Really, a course in personal finances is better than a course in basic economics (I had both, personal finances in middle school, so it was limited to balancing a checkbook.) Basic economics doesn't really help in your day-to-day-life. Furthermore, the lack of nuance in basic economics can be pretty devestating to a person's understanding. For instance, I feel like most lassie-faire libertarians only studied basic economics, and thus their eyes glaze over when you talk about the need for government intervention to protect people from externalities, or that natural monopolies exist, are good, and need to be regulated.
There are other lassie-faire economists who are quite educated (moreso than me) and have more interesting points. But the average person seems to leave basic economics with 'completely free market == good, anything less == USSR'. With no ability to back it up, that kind of kneejerk reaction is just bad in any field.
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Soon schools will also have to teach kids to dress: "Now remember class, you can't wear a striped shirt with plaid pants".
It does seem that school is getting to be less about education and more about daycare (so that parents can go and have careers instead of raising kids).
Engineering is the art of compromise.
How about a course in basic economics for our own President! Forget the students! I just wish Bush knew this shiat,... ;-)
Teaching kids about the internet is a great idea. Unfortunately, being aware of adults seeking to trick them into sexual situations is NOT an internet issue, it is a social issue that has basic rules that should apply to all types of communication and interaction, no matter what the channel or method of communication might be (if you don't know what the basic rules are that I speak of, then you are probably a child molester). Health class is the area to address issues of adult/child abuse.
The real issues that teens and pre-teens need to be taught about in regards to the internet are:
1. If you post text, a picture, or video on the internet it will be there indefinitely, and everyone will potentially have access to it. This works for pics of all types, from sexually inappropriate things to pics from a party where people are drinking to social networking 'interests' lists. We've all heard stories of people getting turned down from a job b/c of a facebook profile. Young people need to know about this early.
2. Cyber bullying. For crying out loud, this is huge, and young people are the most vulnerable. Kids need to know that what gets put online has real consequences, and conversely, to not take rumors or gossip posted online seriously. We've all seen the story about the girl who killed herself b/c a neighbor (parent posing as a teen!) was saying hateful things about her.
3. What the internet is...a computer network. No more, no less. It's a powerful communications tool, just like a car is a powerful transportation tool. If you don't understand and respect what it can do, you or someone else will pay for it.
I know I kinda sound lame and schoolmarm-ish on that last one, but it's true...damn I'm getting old.
The Virginia school classes are nothing more than ignorant reactionary bs meant to calm the irrational fears of soccer moms who watch too much Dateline.
Thank you Dave Raggett
They require internet safety belts, internet air bags, and internet car seats!
What would be really useful is a required course in basic computer security (e.g. always enable file extensions, don't run arbitrary programs that arrive in your email inbox, don't trust the website that says "download this for free smilies in AIM!").
Now they can start teaching kids how to pass the No Child Left Online test...
Television is far more damaging to youngsters. But of course, the industry and advertisers would never allow television safety classes since they want kids watching destructive content and buying junk food, becoming perfect little consuming sheep.
Run and catch, run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch.
A) One trying to befriend another 15 yo girl.
B) A sexual predator with a sexual predator fetish.
From the VA Department Of Education. They even have some nifty power points. /grumble
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
Have a class where the kids all get fake identities, and try to get on the network and steal the fakes from each other.
Give the kids a lesson about phish, you bore them for a day. Teach the kids to phish, and you could educate them for a lifetime.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Have some teenage girl, maybe 14 or 15 start up an online relationship in this class with a supposed cute boy. Then later on towards the end of the Internet education session, the "cute boy" is brought in and he kind of looks like Meatloaf.
I never said that, or made any statements that insinuate it either. Your logical fallacy is called the straw man.
You construct a widely exaggerated statement (kids should learn how to deal with inappropriate adults face to face first vs. over the net), then attribute it to me, then unleash an argument against it that sounds good but is actually completely meaningless, b/c I never said anything like that.
I said:
And that's exactly why your argument is a straw man. My point was that ALL age-inappropriate issues are essentially the same, the difference is the method of communication, therefore, internet issues should be addressed in the same arena as other issues: health class. I'm actually advocating the opposite of what you falsely attribute me of advocating.
I know we're not supposed to feed the trolls, but it feels good to just let loose with a torrent of simple, provable logic every now and again.
as to your point about cyber bullying...
that holds a little more water, but I still think it's different. Adult/child sexual abuse is different than bullying b/c bullying is done between peers (by definition, if it was not between peers, then it would just be assault or abuse). It might be good to include a lesson on bullying in health class that covers the topic as you suggest, incorporating all forms of bullying. I'd buy that idea.
thanks for your comment
Thank you Dave Raggett
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Thanks!
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Surely internet abstinence should be taught.
You mean "laissez-faire".