Went through a painful time getting the school's ISP to unblock Wetpaint. They were blocking it because there were some pages with inappropriate content. Hello! The internet is full of inappropriate content, as is T.V., the movies, books, and the sleazy person down the street. Parents' and teachers' jobs are to educate the students about how to deal with it...
Here's a plan: have a parent night at school.
Put all of the parents in a room and ask them: Would you rather your child occasionally run into questionable content on the Web, or would you rather your child have little to no chance of managing their life and future career in the real world of the 21st century?
Follow up with this one: Would you rather your child encounter questionable content alone in their room or in a classroom mentored by a trained professional?
We are educators. Nobody said education was going to be comfortable.
Don't block: Educate.
I started the project "Unmasking the Digital Truth" to try and help address the array of issues involved in content filtering, especially school district claims that "we have to block that." Please join the wiki and contribute to the ideas shared there. I agree we need to focus more on education rather than blocking.
ReplyDeletehttp://unmaskdigitaltruth.pbworks.com/
From an administrator's persepctive, however, blocking IS easier.
That's true for poor teaching methods which rely solely on lecture-based instruction too. We need educators and educational leaders willing to do what is right for children, not just what is easiest.