[OS:N:] Re: School Filtering

["ekunin" <ekunin snet net>]

Lots of educators on this list defend what's done. Someone reports a 7 year
old inadvertently landed on a site with anti-government material or people
having sex with animals. Yes, this happens, but I doubt the kid will be
permanently damaged or have sex with animals. What about kids who aim for
porn sites? I'll bet there are more of them than accidental tourists. The
lesson taught is you're another adult to resent.

If you think back to your childhoods, resented rules were often imposed. You
decided that when you got to be a parent you would be different. Sometimes,
to our surprise, we find ourselves echoing our parents, but sometimes we
lighten up. Perhaps we should ask the kids how they would feel about
filtering were they parents. Be an interesting discussion and a step away
from authoritarianism.

Before you tell me adults who know more than kids are obliged to keep them
on the straight and narrow, let me tell you I think that's baloney.
Experience matters in primitive societies. In rapidly evolving technological
societies, kids, being closer to the latest technology, know more about
what's happening. That doesn't sit well, but it's the case.

There isn't a school administrator any place who isn't concerned that one or
more of his charges may shoot up the place. You can either blame the kids as
ungrateful malcontents with ADD or you might, just might, consider the
possibility that current education (being hierarchical) barks up the wrong
tree. BTW my 15 year old niece returned from summer camp. She told me that
several kids who are on ADD drugs during the school year, don't take them at
camp. Think about that!

Ed Kunin
http://www.egalite.com