Internet Safety

The discussion topic for this week brought up many interesting and surprising facts. The article titled "No More Chalk" had an interesting comment stating that it was a worry that students who have less technology in their schools will have to play catch-up later with those who went to better-equipped schools. I think this is definitely something that we need to address. I already see this happening in the way of resources such as textbooks and extra-curricular activities and equipment. I am currently teaching at an inner city school and when I first arrived I was astonished at the lack of resources for certain programs in the school. It reminds me of the saying "University is only for the rich". Is this what is going to happen to our younger students? Will only the students that live in higher socio-economic status areas benefit from resources and up to date technologies in their schools? What about the rest of the students?

The article on internet safety had some very surprising facts:

• 56% of children use internet-based chat rooms and 2/3 of those are unmonitored
• more than 40% of the study sample had been approached by someone asking for their personal information

I found this information very scary. I know that in most schools students usually never have unsupervised access to the internet, but I also know that it is very difficult for 1 teacher to watch an entire class of students on the computers and it only takes a few minutes of a teacher having their back turned for a student to get into trouble. The article listed some suggestions for schools in regards to this issue. I think it's a good idea to talk to the students about the dangers of the internet and inform them of internet safety tips. Teachers and students alike could use more information on this topic.