February 9, 2012
TECHNOS QUARTERLY Summer 1995 Vol. 4 No. 2
FORUM: Censorship and Electronic Communication in the K–12 Environment
By Rhonda L. Rieseberg
What if you could offer students in the K–12 environment access to a resource that was described as one of the most important tools in tomorrow's workplace? This resource, you were told, was like the world's largest bookstore, one in which the selection changes from one minute to the next every day of the year. Think of it as the Wild West of communication, the pitch continues, a “last frontier” that allows all participants—from third graders in Barrow, Alaska, to twelfth graders in Fort Myers, Florida—equal status, regardless of age, sex, race, or culture. Place your students on the information superhighway, and you place them on the fast track to information and global discourse with one of the workplace's most potent tools. How would you respond?
As you consider your response, you learn that the bookstore also stocks erotic material and pornographic images. The Wild West of communication includes “outlaws” who can ride out of the electronic hills and flame their angry responses across your students' computer screens. And the information superhighway includes drivers who cruise the electronic byways in search of young children. This wonderful resource, apparently, has its road hazards.
When parents, schools, and communities consider providing children with access to the Internet, they find themselves not only discussing these benefits and hazards but also debating censorship, liability, and the student's right to information and privacy. Should children be given access? How much guidance and supervision are needed? Who is responsible for what is accessed? The person posting the information? The on-line service? The school? The student downloading the material?
The essays published here pose answers and possible solutions to these questions and problems. The first discusses past and present legal cases that may set a precedent for future litigation involving liability and electronic access. In the second and third essays, two teachers describe their schools' experiences with on-line access. As always, your comments on this continuing debate are welcome. Contact TECHNOS by fax, U.S. mail, or e-mail to participate.
A
freelance editor and writer, Rhonda L. Rieseberg has worked with the
International Conference of Building Officials, Prentice Hall Computer Publishing,
The Earth Technology Corporation, the Agency for Instructional Technology,
and National Educational Service.
Click here to access additional articles for this FORUM:
Right-of-Way on the Information Superhighway: Access and Policy Issues for Schools
by Joan M. Mazur, Assistant Professor of Instructional Design and Technology, College of Education, University of Kentucky
Censorship and Electronic Environments in Schools
By Jennifer Spaeth, Math and Computer Teacher, San Francisco Day School, San Francisco, California
The Internet May Be the Safest Haven
by Les Radke, Regional Occupation Program Teacher, Richmond High School, Richmond, California