...and to be oneself is something every young person deserves, President Obama said this week, when he spoke of his sadness over the suicides of gay youth. "We've got to dispel this myth that bullying is a rite of passage, some inevitable part of growing up. It's not. We have the job of ensuring our schools are safe for all of our kids." Ensuring that every child not only has that freedom but is … [Read more...] about The freedom to *not* fit in
Archives for October 2010
Follow-up to PA ‘school spying’ story
The Philadelphia-area school district that was sued for capturing thousands of photos of students in their homes has agreed to pay $610,000 to settle lawsuits filed by two students' families, according to a report in the Washington Post. The photos were captured by the Webcams in school laptops that went home with students in two of the district's high schools. In the cases, the district had … [Read more...] about Follow-up to PA ‘school spying’ story
Europe’s update of the youth online risk picture
A new study of online risks to youth in 23 European countries found that "the Internet is now central to children’s lives across Europe, and they use it for a range of things which are often beneficial including schoolwork, playing games, watching video and instant messaging," reported lead author Sonia Livingstone at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The EU Kids Online … [Read more...] about Europe’s update of the youth online risk picture
Beware ‘free public wi-fi’
Don't be tempted to use "free public wi-fi" when you or your kids want to go online waiting for a flight or in other public places. I certainly have been. But when I've yielded to temptation once or twice, I've closed right out of it, put off by the strange new symbol that turned up – different from the usual connected parallel curved lines where my MacBook's AirPort icon usually is. Turns out my … [Read more...] about Beware ‘free public wi-fi’
Learning by doing: Safe social media for grade school
Citizenship – both digital and the traditional kind – is a verb. It takes practice. So, as you may have heard us ConnectSafely.org folk say, social media need to be in the classroom so students can practice digital citizenship just as for generations they (hopefully still) have opportunities to practice citizenship at school. So I'm thrilled to tell you about a free package of safe social network … [Read more...] about Learning by doing: Safe social media for grade school