Chapter Two

I thought it was very interesting that the American Library Association (ALA) was actually FOR the de-censoring of the Internet in public schools. I would have thought that most people would be in favor of a censorship of the Internet in all public schools. Kids are much more Internet savvy than even my generation (which grew up on the internet). Countless news reports are showing that more and more kids are using the Internet to bully, poke fun and humiliate their peers. Not to mention the wealth of information on how to make weapons, pornography and other things that are not fit for children to be reading. The ALA says that with strict rules and constant teacher surveillance, the children should be allowed to access the Internet with no censorship at all. I’m only 21 years old and not that long ago I was in high school. I remember when a class would go to the computer lab, even if there were two teachers constantly circling a room of about 28 students, students were still able to find games and access Myspace even though we were on a censored Internet (back then Myspace flew under the censorship radar). I think that our schools have enough problems to worry about without adding the Internet into the equation. Say a student who does not have access to the Internet at home is able to research how to make a bomb online at school because his teacher who was supposed to be monitoring him was busy helping another student correctly site a source and the child actually constructs a bomb and sets it off in school. Eventually it’s all going to come back on the school, and make the school look responsible for allowing this child to research weapons on the Internet. Perhaps if there was a software that allowed the teacher to view what websites each computer was browsing all from the teachers computer, this could help control what sites are accessed. But until then, I don’t think that allowing K-12 students to search the web un-censored is a good idea.
Because I have grown up around computers and the Internet (my family first got AOL when I was in sixth grade) a lot of this chapter was a review for me. I used to manage an online magazine so I know about functions like LISTSERV, I love graphic editing so I know about the different file types for photos, and certain college classes I’ve taken have allowed me to become very familiar with Internet video as well. Something I am going to assume is a more recent technology that I was not so familiar with was VR or Virtual Reality. This allows students to see things in 3D, and also allows the student to manipulate the images. One example that the book gives is of a website that allows students to dissect frogs online. The website provides such a realistic experience that a lot of classes already use such technology to cover dissection requirements in Science classes because it’s easy, there is no smell and the students aren’t held back by not wanting to cut open a dead animal. They can learn everything they need to learn about the frog anatomy by virtually dissecting it. This is a win-win situation for everyone involved, I feel.
As a future teacher I think that all of the new educational tools the Internet is unveiling is incredible. I plan to use the site ePALS which was discussed in this chapter, because I feel that connect with people who are different from you is the best way to help understand the difference in cultures as well as helps the kids to accept their friends exactly as they are. I thought it was interesting as well that on page 84 the book tells us that “hypertext and hypermedia allow students to learn in a nonlinear way,” which will appeal to more students overall. Not all children learn from sitting down and reading a book. Some learn better with visual stimulation, some with vocal stimulation. The Internet allows teachers to cater to each child’s needs by using text, graphics, movies, sound clips, interactive games and group projects all through the use of the Internet.