Wednesday, October 26, 2005Issues for Young People and Blogging
Some schools are asking students or creating policies requiring students to remove their blogs from the public internet.
The article is about a Roman Catholic high school ordering its students to remove personal blogs from the Internet. They are not talking about censorship, they are trying to protect young people from cyberpredators. I've heard similar stories from several educators who are worried that the combination of blogging and student's general greater willingness to provide personal information on-line can to be a dangerous combination.
Though the article pushes the "no blogging policy" towards a free speech debate, its really more about responsible Internet use for teens and giving students a "safer" place to blog. As schools continue their adoption of blogging tools as a great way to communicate in the classroom and help kids learn to write, they also need to consider their potential downside and find ways to mitigate that danger.
I think we all have a lot to learn here.
The article is about a Roman Catholic high school ordering its students to remove personal blogs from the Internet. They are not talking about censorship, they are trying to protect young people from cyberpredators. I've heard similar stories from several educators who are worried that the combination of blogging and student's general greater willingness to provide personal information on-line can to be a dangerous combination.
Though the article pushes the "no blogging policy" towards a free speech debate, its really more about responsible Internet use for teens and giving students a "safer" place to blog. As schools continue their adoption of blogging tools as a great way to communicate in the classroom and help kids learn to write, they also need to consider their potential downside and find ways to mitigate that danger.
I think we all have a lot to learn here.
