The bill, Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), has sent the social networking scene scrambling. The idea of blocking such sites as MySpace and Facebook in America’s schools is an issue that should have been confronted some time ago. Although the government may not have the ability to control exactly what children are viewing online at home, they can attempt to remove it from the schools. The threat of online predators to children should scare everyone. I see the whole issue of online predators as a good battle to fight. I believe that it needs to be fought for and there should be no room for interpretation. School computers do not need access to social networking sites to perform tasks that are fundamentally important to the school systems. It devalues the learning experience of the children, which, of course, is the heart of education. Those who are against the limiting of access in schools should sit down and think. How will blocking such sites hurt the sites themselves or the children in school? Outside of the educational setting, children are still free to use sites such as MySpace and Facebook. They are not attempting to block children from ever accessing these sites, they are only trying to preserve the core of the educational environment.
3 Comments
Comments are closed.
I’m with you on this one Todd. It’s very easy to block out specific sites that you don’t want computer users to access. Corporations that I work with as a consultant do it everyday.
There’s no need for kids to be surfing MySpace, Facebook, Friendster or any social networking site while they are at school. School is a place for learning, not a place for kids to spend idle time on computers while teachers snooze away.
No one is damaged by putting rules in place that ensure that education is going on in the schools.
I agree totally. I have blogged many times about myspace, I have a myspace, and the one thing that I am not understanding is, why does myspace or these places get blamed for the online predators and all the issues. The parents are never mentioned. The parents need to take responsibility of what their children are doing online, period. In saying that, if you send your child to school, then is it the schools responsibility to watch what your child is doing online? Yes of course, but if those sites are enabled, you really have no control over your own child’s safety, and it is unrealistic to expect a teacher of on average 30 or over students to be aware exactly of what your child is doing. You lose that control over your own child’s safety, when as I said above, that needs to stay with the parents, and the kids should go to school to learn, this shouldn’t even be a issue.
I don’t think blocking MySpace and Facebook would do anything to prevent online predators. Online predators are everywhere. MySpace and Facebook are getting all the attention these days just because they are big now. I think students need to be taught more about online predators. I do think sites like MySpace and Facebook should probably be blocked by school anyway because they are sites where kids would just play and not learn.