Sticking up for filters. (letters).NANCY WILLARD Nancy Willard (born June 26, 1936, in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a children's author and poet. In 1982, she received the Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She lives in Poughkeepsie, New York and lectures at Vassar College.[1]. COULDN'T HAVE gotten it more wrong in "Keeping Safe, Staying Smart" (January 2003, p. 28). Her prescription for the problem of Internet safety will only lead to many more examples of the tragic crime that opened her article. She asserts that administrators should not be asking "Are we protecting students?," but rather "Are we providing our students with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to use the Internet in a safe and responsible manner?" By this logic districts should stop all spending to create safe schools and simply instruct in·struct v. in·struct·ed, in·struct·ing, in·structs v.tr. 1. To provide with knowledge, especially in a methodical way. See Synonyms at teach. 2. To give orders to; direct. v. students in the proper use of Kevlar vests. It's true that filters cannot do it all, but on the other hand, believing the job of protecting students from Internet dangers can be done without the use of filters is shear shear: see strength of materials. Shear A straining action wherein applied forces produce a sliding or skewing type of deformation. folly folly In architecture, an eccentric, generally nonfunctional (and often deliberately unfinished) structure erected to enhance a romantic landscape. Follies were particularly in vogue in England in the 18th and early 19th century. . It also seems more than a bit disingenuous dis·in·gen·u·ous adj. 1. Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating: "an ambitious, disingenuous, philistine, and hypocritical operator, who ... exemplified ... to claim that handling an occasional override An arrangement whereby commissions are made by sales managers based upon the sales made by their subordinate sales representatives. A term found in an agreement between a real estate agent and a property owner whereby the agent keeps the right to receive a commission for the sale of of a filtering system is a burden too heavy for districts to bear while at the same time we are assured that if filters were removed, sufficient resources exist to protect the safety of students through training and supervision. If the point of the article was that Internet education, like education in general, is more than simply creating a safe environment for learning, who could disagree. Unfortunately, Willard's "comprehensive approach" would put all children at serious risk by leaving a loaded gun in every wired classroom while "protecting" children only through the fig leaf of policy and instruction. --Kyle A. Warner Network/Systems Services Manager The School District of the City of Saginaw Saginaw, Michigan |
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