Kevin Erlinger Science Teacher
Urbana Middle School
Urbana, Illinois

Censorship:

Censorship is a hot topic in the cyberworld today. It is also a hot topic in education. Teachers and schools are often confronted by parents and community members who do not believe that certain materials are appropriate for their children. I personally have had a few encounters with parents over evolution. I read Just Say No To Censorship by Audrie Krause which focused on the need to speak out against censorship on the web. Ms. Krause points out that the government has considered several bills in which they would censor the internet. The argument taken in this article is that this is a violation of our first amendment right of free speech. The article further states that everyone has a different sense of what is innappropriate and that the decision about this should be left up to the individuals using the web as well as parents and educators. I personally tend to agree with this point of view. I think it is up to parents to decide what is appropriate for their own children. Yet, on the other hand, as an educator I feel that each individual school and teacher needs to decide what is appropriate for students when using the web. This needs to be communicated to the parents through an acceptable use policy.

Sexual Predators/Pornography:

The Parents Guide to The Information Superhighway is an excellent source of information and resources for parents and teachers alike. It has tips and tools as well as links and recommendations on how parents can keep their children safe on the internet. The guide discusses benefits and risks of such things as email, browsing the web, chatting, and using parental control tools. It really emphasizes that parents need to stay involved and informed. The issues of pornography and sexual predation is a significant one for the classroom teacher. We have developed an acceptable usage policy that oulines what students are allowed to do on the web and what is forbidden. However, with the ability of the new browsers being able to support chatting we have discovered a hole in our policy. Pam Van Walleghen, the UMS technology coordinator, is researching this issue. I personally feel that chatting is difficult to monitor and should be used infrequently with students. I feel that our job is to make sure students understand why the limitations are placed upon them so that they are more willing to follow the "safety" guidelines.

Illegal Use Of Sotware:

While searching for information on this topic I found a site on Legal Issues and Piracy Info from Central Michigan University. The site is very informative, providing information about software piracy laws and piracy statistics. One link that caught my eye was Piracy Relating To Schools. This page emphasizes that schools are not exempt from software copyright laws. It furthermore pointed out the temptation for schools to violate these laws and gave guidelines for schools to follow. I think this is an important issue. This not only affects schools it also affects students. Students need to learn from their schools and teachers that it is not acceptable to buy a single copy of a program and run it on multiple machines. Studnets need to understand the differences between shareware, freeware, and commercial software. The internet has made it easier than ever for students to acquire sofware, plugins, and applets. It is important for them to realize that these programs may not be free and if piracy continues who is ultimately getting hurt by this illegal action.

Free Speech:

The issue of free speech and censorship are tied together very closely. Students like to refer to the first ammendment right of free speech often. Therefore, it is an interesting issue to discuss with students. I have never discussed the issue of free speech on the internet with my students before, but I plan to this year to see what kind of response it will elicit. As I was searching the web I saw numerous articles, sites, and opinions on free speech and the world wide web. One interesting site is The Green Ribbon Campaign site. This site emphasizes the importance of free speech yet feels that in many ways it is being abused by the use of profanity and violence. I respect this point of view. I think in many ways this is what we want to teach our students-to act responsibly in all of their actions. The article I read about censorship was very opposed to governmental regulation of cyberspace. This organization seems to agree with this yet supports a grass roots movement to act responsibly.

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