Ray A. James
ETEC 557-01W
Date: 2 February 04
ABSTRACT
NUMBER 2
CITATION:
Taylor, Anne. (2002) Keeping Up with the Kids in a Wired
World. Academic Search
Premier with Multimedia Schools, 9(2), 40-44. [Available online at:
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=6381695&db=aph]
SUMMARY:
This article is about students who use computers to get on-line to learn and about parents who allow the use of computers to get their kids trained on. The study shows that ninety-nine percent of the students used the Internet and 79 percent access it at home. Forty-one percent use the Internet to conduct homework. The parents say that 53 percent of them supervise the kids’ online activities. Over half the students have a free-email account like Hotmail or Yahoo. A quarter of the students have received pornography from someone they have met online. The most important issue in this article is that half of the students at the secondary level, say someone has made unwanted sexual comments to them on the Internet and one-fourth respondents reported encountering hateful comments online. Also, one-half the students give out their age, name, and email in order to win a contest. The parents in the article are not leading by example and not giving out any rules for them to abide by when in chat rooms, etc. According to the article, “Good rules and open communication are the name of the game.”
PERSONAL REACTION:
Kids need to understand that staying anonymous on the Internet is essential to their well-being. The parents according to the article must learn to supervise. Teachers need to set specific guidelines to students on what is allowed on a computer. Most school districts support filters that keep students out of chat rooms and porn areas; however, the parents at home are not getting the message. This article is supportive toward resolving the issue and does a good job interviewing students and parents. What needs to be done is letters need to be sent out to parents, showing how to program their computer to filter out unwanted sites. Proper supervision is the key to the students’ well being and must be strictly enforced for the safety and protection of the students. Secondary students need to learn how to use their time more wisely and be able to properly research articles that support learning, such as through ERIC. Students also need to know the law and how that applies to them.
The Media Awareness Network based in Canadian homes and schools would be beneficial to use and teach with in American Schools. The main emphasis on this article with EBSCO Research Database is that the students need help with reasoning skills, and knowledge when handling an incredible range of activities and reading material on the Internet. We can all learn to keep up with students by being a watchful eye.