Quotes are taken from a message written by Arthur to Charles on 06/26/96...
AA>Hope Sheila reads this.  Here she has grounds 
AA>for believing that all this increases distance between 
AA>haves and have nots.  Internet use requires fairly good 
AA>computers and there is a monthly cost for such access.  I 
AA>personally, as a parent, resent such pressure from the 
AA>schools my children attend.
Arthur,
Thanks very much for the information on computer use in the Rochester area 
school districts.  I think it not only points out the impact of technology on 
increasing the distance between the haves and the have-nots, as you 
indicated, 
but it also points out some of the limiting factors that will keep 
computers from becoming the savior of public education, as some predict.
AA>"Greece, Fairport and Brighton schools have adopted policies requiring 
AA>parents and student to sign forms saying they have talked 
AA>about the issue [darker side of Internet] and that 
AA>students won't choose to look at obscene material on the 
AA>Internet."  Yeah, sure!  And while they are in a candy 
AA>store with lots of money in their possession, they won't 
AA>buy any candy either.
This is a problem we are wrestling with as well.  Internet access will 
begin to become available in our district this year and we are 
considering a "use policy" as well as permission forms.  We do not want 
lawsuits stemming from kids having access to inappropriate materials.
I attended a workshop this past spring at which a representative from a 
near-by small city school district spoke.  They've had Internet access 
for a year and are already experiencing some problems they can't solve.  
E-mail via the Internet has become little more than the modern version 
of "note-passing."  They are finding trashy mail being sent, hate 
letters, and even pornographic images being passed around.  Some of it 
is sent from home, others are written and mailed right in school.  The 
district is considering revoking the student rights to e-mail.
AA>"Before Jerry Taylor [he used to run the district's BBS] taught...175 
AA>other sixth-graders how to use computers this year, he 
AA>sent a packet of information home to parents explaining 
AA>the Internet's advantages and dangers....About six 
AA>children in his classes didn't get permission slips signed, 
AA>so they didn't use the Internet.  At least one set of 
AA>parents didn't sign it because their church advised 
AA>against it, Taylor said."  (Notice how the reporter 
AA>couldn't resist putting in something that seems to cast 
AA>aspersions on religious beliefs.)
Interesting - I didn't read anything negative in the comments that the 
reporter made on the stand that the church took.  I don't attend church 
myself (though I am not without some religious beliefs) but I do 
understand the church's position.  It is consistent with their beliefs 
that children should be protected from pornography and they believe that 
neither parents nor schools can monitor everything that the kids do on 
the Internet.  I find little fault with that.
AA>Well, there is more, but I send this as evidence that 
AA>the Internet use in Greece schools is not so open as one 
AA>might think and that we really need to think through this 
AA>whole business of how much and what kind of computer 
AA>knowledge we should be teaching in our schools.
I am with you 100% on this.
Chuck Beams
Fidonet - 1:2608/70
cbeams@future.dreamscape.com
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* UniQWK #5290* A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.
--- Maximus 2.01wb
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