Charles,
   Big article in today's "Democrat & Chronicle" about the Internet in some 
of the local suburban schools--Greece, Brighton, Henrietta, East Rochester.  
Let me give you a couple of quotes and make a comment or two.
   "Greece, Fairport and Brighton schools have adopted policies requiring 
parents and student to sign forms saying they have talked about the issue 
[darker side of Internet] and that students won't choose to look at obscene 
material on the Internet."  Yeah, sure!  And while they are in a candy store 
with lots of money in their possession, they won't buy any candy either.
   "Before Jerry Taylor [he used to run the district's BBS] taught...175 
other sixth-graders how to use computers this year, he sent a packet of 
information home to parents explaining the Internet's advantages and 
dangers....About six children in his classes didn't get permission slips 
signed, so they didn't use the Internet.  At least one set of parents didn't 
sign it because their church advised against it, Taylor said."  (Notice how 
the reporter couldn't resist putting in something that seems to cast 
aspersions on religious beliefs.)
   "But there's also fun or educational information,m including information 
that would be difficult to find else where.  You can find all of 
Shakespeare's metaphors for death quickly in an electronic search of his 
works."  Hooray! And for how many high school students would such information 
be relevant?  Any student so far advanced would probably have access to his 
own computer and the Internet.  Such stuff is irrelevant for most high school 
students.
   "Taylor said students only used the computer when he was in the room--and 
he recommends parents similarly be involved in Internet use at home."  Hope 
Sheila reads this.  Here she has grounds for believing that all this 
increases distance between haves and have nots.  Internet use requires fairly 
good computers and there is a monthly cost for such access.  I personally, as 
a parent, resent such pressure from the schools my children attend.
   Well, there is more, but I send this as evidence that the Internet use in 
Greece schools is not so open as one might think and that we really need to 
think through this whole business of how much and what kind of computer 
knowledge we should be teaching in our schools.
--Art--
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