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Computers: A New Tool
problem of not catching those students that slip through the cracks of the education system. Students that are out sick for long periods of time no longer need to play catch up in class when all the materials needed for their assignment can be zapped to their own home computers in a matter of seconds. Not to mention the on-line interaction they can receive with the teacher and their peers while at home and sick in bed.
They possibilities are limitless. Unfortunately some possibilities can be harmful. Take for example the issue of pornography leaking into school computers where students can download it form countless sites off the internet. This is a very real possibility as it has happened before. This is where teachers, administrators, and parents must take full responsibility by denying access of these sites with parental control features and demanding only the best software available to prevent this from happening. Constant supervision is the key. We can not and should not assume it is the responsibility of the websites to control their content. Their interests do not lie with our children’s innocence. However they do have the right of freedom of speech. A right bestowed to all of us by our constitution and so fighting them is not the answer. A parent must know at all times who or what their children are in the presence of when they are not around. Let us not make the same mistake we did with television. We have a chance to correct this before it becomes a widespread problem, especially since this problem is more notably present in the home where a parent has full control of the situation.
Another more visible problem in schools with computers is the big corporate push to advertise in schools. You already see this with youth clothing made to boldly display its logo’s such as baseball like jerseys that say “FUBU” or t-shirts that have the Nike ‘Swoosh’ symbol on them. For girls it is designer clothing like Calvin Klein or Donna Karen. On computers it is the bothersome and annoying pop-up advertisements you get while on-line. Even more interesting is the recent battle between Microsoft and Apple for supply rights to schools as noted by journalist Joe Wilcox of news.com in a story titled Apple: Microsoft Should Pay $1 Billion—Cash. In this story Microsoft settles in court to over 100 consumer lawsuits where they will give $500 million in free software and $500 million to charitable foundations for these schools. Apple says that this is a ploy to gain a piece of the school market by almost forcing schools to purchase Microsoft compatible components to run their free software. So the war of advertising amongst the mega-corporations lives on only now the new battlefields are our schools.
Once again the key is constant supervision and the ability of parents to say no. They must say no to the corporate Trojan Horses and enticements of free, and no to their kid’s stranglehold over their pocketbooks. Most students do [next page]