Practicing internet safety is an important practice that everyone should follow. Of course one of the knocks against MySpace is that it is full of sexual predators who are always hovering around ready to swoop in when an adolescent leaves the window open. While MySpace is in fact just as safe a place on the internet as any other, practicing safe internet usage should still be maintained. Justin Wilkes, a teacher at Novi Middle School, feels the same way. Wilkes suspected that his eighth graders had MySpace accounts and were revealing too much information on them. When Wilkes checked it out, his suspicions were deemed accurate.
Telephone numbers, the city in which they reside, their actual ages of 14 and 15, and some would go so far as to put their full addresses.
Instead of creating a fuss about the kids using MySpace, Wilkes went to the principal and with the Novi Schools Superintendent
developed an internet safety program that would involve an assembly for the eighth grade class and also an evening session for parents. Both sessions were facilitated by Novi Police Department Detective Erick Zinser.
I think what the Wilkes and the Novi School system did hear was the right way to handle the situation and I commend them on how they handled it. Instead of freaking out about the kids having MySpace accounts, they instructed them on how to properly use MySpace. The best part of all was that they involved the parents as well. Parents can be completely clueless about what is going on, and it is important to keep them informed. Instead of banning the kids from using MySpace, they taught them the proper way to use it. Instructing the students on proper internet use the best way to teach the kids because that way they do not make the mistakes they made hear later on in life.
MySpace: Web site causing problems for many teenagers.
April 12, 2007
by Renee Gates
I totally agree that they used the proper way to handle the situation. Never withdraw information from students you are trying to teach. I feel that it is the exact opposite of what one is trying to accomplish in their classroom/school. Ignorance will only lead students to stumble around in the dark and attempt to find their own way, usually wrongly, and in cyberspace that can not only be harmful but deadly. Good article!
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