[LM_NET] Hmm - joke fell flat Re: Have you had problems getting parents to attend an Internet safety night?

[Nancy Willard <nwillard@CSRIU.ORG>]

Ok, folks, I will not try again to become a comedian on the evening of
Friday the 13th again. (This is based on some messages I have received
back.) But let me try a repeat:

> Well, one community appears to have an interesting twist on encouraging
> attendance:

> "Sexting and Internet Safety" Seminar

> *The information given in this presentation is very graphic with adult
> content.*

Ok, I will get my head out of the gutter. ;-)

Now I will be serious.

It is hard to get busy parents to do anything - especially come to parent
meetings. But it is important to recognize that the teens who are likely to
become involved in the more dangerous online activities are also the ones
whose parents are the least likely to ever come to a school event. So we are
not going to reach those more at risk teens by doing parent evenings anyway.

But what if some cop comes in and presents a Reefer Madness - Just Say "NO"
message - "If teens put pictures of themselves and their school name online,
a predator can track them down."

What happens when the school, or a teacher in the school wants to set up a
Web 2.0 learning environment? I have heard a report of this. The teacher had
set up a private ning. But a parent went to the school board and accused the
teacher of placing the students at risk of online predation. The school
board believed the parent and the teacher's behavior was criticized. And
this district is going to shift to a 21st century learning environment
when???

And what happens when those now-scared parents go home and try to talk to
their teens? How are those parent/teen relationships going to proceed? The
teens just lost the ability to talk with their parents if something negative
does happen - because they know their parents are primed to overreact.

Nancy
-- 
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
http://cyber-safe-kids.com
http://csriu.wordpress.com
nwillard@csriu.org

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)

Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)

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