The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
I'm a difficult guy to scare. For years (going on twelve already!) I've worked as a teacher, and for the last quarter of that time, I've taught in the deepest, darkest depths of junior high. This can be a scary place to spend your days, but it can also be one of the most interesting. Guaranteed, every day someone comes into the classroom every morning with a story of something that happened to them online the night before, or a story of something they found online that I just absolutely and instantly need to see. There has been much talk about kids having a lot of technology skills, but in many ways I question this. Kids love computers and many of them can do a lot with them, but their skills are often limited. They spend a lot of time on instant messaging programs (like MSN) talking with people they just spent all day with. But programs like these also let kids talk with people around the globe just as easily. Kids commonly don't spend a lot of time using the net in ways that would be familiar to adults. They download music, chat with friends, make their own websites, and look for funny videos. But as soon as they need to use a search engine seriously, to learn something new about a topic, they are lost. The problem with this is that often the adults around are just as lost. Recent surveys show that only 18 per cent of parents keep track of their kids online activities. This is trouble. With issues like cyberbullying and the posting of online threats, parents need to know how their kids are spending their time online. Just this week, for example, four kids from Southern Ontario were arrested and several are being charged with conspiracy to commit murder after other teens complained of a "hit list" the four kids were keeping on a publicly accessible website. Parents need to take issues like this deadly seriously. I am continually shocked by parents who, when I discuss with them concerns I have about information posted on their child's' website, have no idea such a site even existed. A big reason to be concerned is simply for future employment. Google stores everything; right now, forever. Employers are already Googling potential employees and not hiring them because of pictures and posts they are finding online. How much more will this grow when this generation of kids, those currently in our middle schools who have always had access to technology, hit the workplace and a potential employer finds a series of bullying or racist remarks posted online when the child was 15? Given two equally otherwise qualified candidates, I know who I would choose. On the other hand, we cannot hide kids from the reality and dangers of being online. In the U.S., they are currently trying to pass a law banning kids from using any type of software or website that would allow them to make contact with someone else for fear of online predators. This list would currently include instant messaging software, blogs, wikis, VOIP, photo and bookmark sharing websites, etc., etc. While online predators are certainly real, is blocking and filtering this content at school going to teach kids anything other than how to get around the filters, and ensure they will head to these restricted sites as soon as they get home from school? Instead of hiding our heads in the sand and blocking these sites, we need to ensure our kids are educated about real dangers and taught how to handle them in real ways. The generation of kids growing up today has always been online and from here on in, kids always will be. Don't hide them from it, teach them the skills they need to use this most powerful of tools wisely. ([email protected])
