Re: Internet "management"

[Carole Carpenter <chcrpntr@UDEL.EDU>]

I have to disagree with Duncan, but first let me compliment him on a
complex system of Internet supervision.  We have not begun to attempt
that much control.  Once our students and their parents have signed the
AUP, the students are pretty free to "surf" wherever.  We do not have
e-mail because our state does not have a computer big enough to hold the
volume of mail which would be generated by all the students, and our
school does not have one either.  We felt that it was more important for
the students to be able to search for information than for them to
correspond, although that is admittedly a tough call.  However, in three
months of Internet use we have already had a teacher stumble upon a photo
of the area between a woman's legs with a cigarette held to it and a
student gasp in horrow when he connected with a photo of two naked women
fondling each other.  My aide was working with the student at the time
and swore that there was no indication that the connection would result
in that.  We have also had students spending lots of time discussing the
size of girlfriends boobs, exchanging My Mother is so Ugly that....jokes,
and generally not using this limited and valuable technology for
educational (well, school-oriented) activities.  Of course that violates
their AUP, but it is still an issue for discussion.

    Regardless, my comment was not that I was worried about filth.
I said that there are many parents in my district who are worried about
it.  Teachers can not,therefore, require Internet use. Access to
information is not the issue here.  Parental permission is.

     Carole H. Carpenter         chcrpntr@strauss.udel.edu