Virginia Becomes First State to Mandate Internet Safety Lessons

kaufmanmoore writes "The Commonwealth of Virginia has become the first state in the nation to require that students in all grade levels receive a form of internet safety lessons. The story is scant on details about the lessons, but describes one recently at a high school where the presenter showed a social-networking profile of a convicted sex offender posing as a 15 year-old girl. "

Re:This is great but...

[webmaster404]

Not really....

A) Realize that no matter how much you warn them of the "dangers" of the Internet, kids will still get on it
B) Realize that many teenagers will rebel and still get on
C) Realize that by teaching ways that predators will stalk them, they will think they are safe if they don't have those
D) And lastly, realize that this opens up an avenue for propaganda by MS and the *AA to try to squash innovation by spreading FUD with how "pirated" things always has viruses and can lead to identity theft and being stalked!!!One!11!!

Sure it seems like a good idea, but remember the government gave us the DMCA and most likely doesn't know anything about what the 'Net is really like.

A good idea that won't turn out well

[jakek812]

I'm a sophomore in high school in Maryland. My school has had people give speeches on Internet safety multiple times. Typically these lessons serve more to teach inaccuracies about the internet (as the people who teach them tend to know nothing about the internet) and scare people away from the internet based on those falsehoods, then actually teach people how to be safe on the internet. Obviously my experiences are not a guarantee of what will happen in Virginia, but as I said, I have been through these things multiple times and they have never turned out well.

Licenses?

[snarfies]

If I pass my internet safety class, do I get an internet license? And must I present proof of license to get internet service?

I mean, I actually like the idea of some sort of internet safety education (which I hope will also include teaching people how NOT to get their machines pwnt), I just don't see how it'll be enforced.

Re:Fine but

[Actually, I do RTFA]

I think a course in basic economics...

Really, a course in personal finances is better than a course in basic economics (I had both, personal finances in middle school, so it was limited to balancing a checkbook.) Basic economics doesn't really help in your day-to-day-life. Furthermore, the lack of nuance in basic economics can be pretty devestating to a person's understanding. For instance, I feel like most lassie-faire libertarians only studied basic economics, and thus their eyes glaze over when you talk about the need for government intervention to protect people from externalities, or that natural monopolies exist, are good, and need to be regulated.

There are other lassie-faire economists who are quite educated (moreso than me) and have more interesting points. But the average person seems to leave basic economics with 'completely free market == good, anything less == USSR'. With no ability to back it up, that kind of kneejerk reaction is just bad in any field.

Re:This is great but...

[Gyga]

All non-academic lessons I've taken have boiled down to that.

Hunter saftey course (guns in general): don't be an idiot. don't point guns at people. use that organ located between your ears.
D.A.R.E: don't do illegal drugs or alcohol, most will mess you up.
Drivers Ed: Use common sense, follow the law, don't be reckless. (ironically nothing about actually driving)

I guarentee this lesson will be: "Don't give out personal information. Don't post pictures. Use fake names. All men are men, all women are men, all 13 year old girls are FBI agents or Pedophiles. Don't meet with people in real life."

Good Idea, Won't Work

[Kuciwalker]

I don't think they're going to be able to get people who actually understand the risks of the Internet to teach these classes. They'll probably take the PE teachers or something, send the teachers to a workshop for a few hours or days to learn the curriculum, and the teachers will end up teaching straight from a workbook written by some bureaucrat. Still, it's a good idea in the abstract, and maybe they'll surprise us.

What would be really useful is a required course in basic computer security (e.g. always enable file extensions, don't run arbitrary programs that arrive in your email inbox, don't trust the website that says "download this for free smilies in AIM!").

Re:This is great but...

[OMNIpotusCOM]

Most kids already know good online habits, everyone knows you shouldn't go with random strangers online

Like not putting pictures up of them underaged drinking on FaceBook? Oh wait...

The problem though is, it won't be "piracy is illegal and so don't do it" it will be some online predators use pirated versions of Windows which probably is a fact, then it becomes all online predators use pirated Windows, then it becomes pirating Windows == online stalking.

I don't know what internet security courses at a high school have to do with your tinfoil hat there, but it is really shiny. The kids will love it... so long as they don't tie you to the ceiling and shine bright lights at it.

What about television safety classes?

[VampireByte]

Television is far more damaging to youngsters. But of course, the industry and advertisers would never allow television safety classes since they want kids watching destructive content and buying junk food, becoming perfect little consuming sheep.

Re:This is great but...

[Hannah E. Davis]

I don't think I'm the only one around here who has fond memories of telling my computer teachers in highschool how to copy/paste, alt-tab, and use other extremely basic functions. Oh, sure, I learned a lot in those classes, but very little of that knowledge actually came from the teacher.

If this is going to work, either a lot more money must be spent getting the teachers up to date (easier said than done, since many of the people on top remain fearful of or overwhelmed by this series of tubes), or they'll have to make getting kids to teach each other (with supervision) a major part of the curriculum.

I am assuming that these internet safety lessons are supposed to enable children to learn more than they would in a 5 minute talk with their parents about how they shouldn't give personal information to anyone and they should be very careful about trusting anyone they don't know. If that is the case, I have no idea how they're going to keep it up to date on all the latest threats. Even universities struggle with this, so I have no idea how the average public school is going to handle it.

Re:So flip it around

[Anonymous Coward]

The story is scant on details about the lessons, but describes one recently at a high school where the presenter showed a social-networking profile of a convicted sex offender posing as a 15 year-old girl.

Any chance it was one of the teachers [ptgustan.com]?

Re:Think of the adults

[gnick]

Maybe someone can prepare a one page guide on internet safety.

I'd like to buy that page! Please send 1 copy to:
gnick Pudentame
13666 Mockingbrid Lane
Springfield, IL

Charge my M/C: 5424 1534 8467 8942

Thanks!

Re:wrong topic

[ceoyoyo]

Well, chances are that if a kid is going to have to deal with some sort of sexual abuse it will be a relative, in their home, likely starting before they ever get into school. The stranger on the street scenario is almost ridiculously unlikely.

But the Internet has this wonderful power to bring us all together, so the stranger on the Internet scenario isn't quite as ridiculously unlikely.