http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703220463
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The principal declined comment, but St. Hugo office manager Judy Martinek said the principal just wants to keep the students safe.
“We’ve stated our position and we hope all students are in the process of taking down their sites by tomorrow,” said Martinek.
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Dear Principal Sister Margaret Van Velzen,
I am sure you are overwhelmed with “help” from well-meaning and not so well-meaning folks. I’ll leave the sorting to you which stack this goes into — “useful” or “trash”.
When I read this story, I wasn’t sure if you were responding to an immediate threat to some child’s life and safety, in which case, you have to do what you have to do. Or, if you were faced with the “cesspool” that some MySpace profiles present. Now obviously, I’m a long way from school. And, I work in the technology sector. If you’re interested in my credentials, then you can see them on my LinkedIn profile cited below. It’s derisively called “MySpace for business people”.
To the point, in the absence of an immediate credible threat, I would suggest that “banning” is a poor strategy for dealing with the problem. Why just MySpace? Surely, you’ve heard of Flicker, Friendster, and a ton of sites, some of which actually don’t begin with F. As a internet user, I know that there are more dangerous places on the net than MySpace. And, there are even more vulgar and crass experiences out there.
So if banning MySpace isn’t a good strategy, what would be?
Well as reluctant as I am to talk back to a Nun or a Brother, (old beatings die hard), I would suggest that a three prong strategy — all revolving around education and community — would be better.
(1) Educate the students.
My Mom always said that I should conduct myself so that she would never be ashamed at anything I did. That standard has served me well. You have a tremendous duty to teach your children: why you are concerned for their safety, what they do will follow them forever (i.e., there’s no internet eraser), and who they are (i.e., self-image as strong powerful smart “children”). They will be presented with many more MySpaces and (imho potentially much more dangerous) chat rooms. We need your charges to be smart enough to recognize “deep water” BEFORE they go swimming. AND, the confidence in their parents, their teachers, and their Principal that should they get into “deep” or “hot” water, that they have the trust to come to those who are most interested in them for help. Sorry, but imho, “banning” does NOT accomplish any of these objectives.
(2) Educate the parents
In today’s internet, the parents are clueless. (Usually!) SO for example, I suggest to those who ask my advice as Computer Security type, that they need to know what their children are doing. I usually suggest that the family computer be located near the TV so that from the parent’s easy chair the screen is just a glance from the TV screen. Now, I don’t expect that they are going to be eagle eyed enough to see what’s going on, but it’s the perception. Internet predators seek to isolate the week ones. Besides, parents may actually learn from their children. I would suggest that it’s you job to educate the parents that (a) the internet is a potential wondrous but dangerous place; (b) convince them that they need to “supervise” their children use of internet; and (c) give them some ideas about how to do that (i.e., cache logs, usage logs; chat fragments). Sorry, but imho again “banning” doesn’t accomplish these either.
(3) Build the student community
One of the motivations for MySpace is to be out there, to establish their identity, and to make connections. Perhaps, you might want to build on the students natural sense of community. Make MySpace into a shared experience. Who builds the best? Most innovations. You can come up with more ideas how to motivate them than I ever could. I’m just urging the “use the force, luke” strategy. MySpace channeled into productive and good uses. How about having you children reach out to other schools nearby or around the world to teach and connect? At the very least, you can offer the “sthuho.org” version of MySpace. If you don’t have the budget for more capability, Google will give it to you as part of their free enterprise offerings. Again, sorry, but “banning” doesn’t accomplish these objectives.
Hopefully these thoughts will be useful to you. I offer them in the spirit that we both want what’s best for your children.
F. John
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