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Aired Monday, December 11, 2006

By Jennifer Wing

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Anchor Lead: In the latest Learning Curve, we looked at how what's written online by students can result in big headaches for schools. Principals are dealing with fights and nasty rumors that start on websites like Myspace. We asked listeners what they think of this trend and how much oversight schools should have over what students do online at home. KPLU's Jennfier Wing reports.

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It seems that just about every parent with tweens or teenagers in the house and a computer is dealing with the same issue: How do you keep the kids off the computer for hours on end doing god only knows what? Tamerah of Vashon Island has a 14 year old daughter who, in her opinion spends far too much time instant messaging with friends and on websites like Myspace.

“I believe that it’s changing the culture of our children. You know we never use to have instant communication, whether it’s texting all the time or now, instant messaging.”

Tamerah wouldn’t mind if schools had more say over what students do on their free time.

“I do believe that schools should somehow, have some say over what goes on because it’s influencing these you adolescents’ life in a big way. A real big way.”

Tamerah now puts limits on how long her daughter can be online and makes time to check her daughter’s Myspace page. A parent of an 18 year old high school senior who doesn’t want to be identified writes:

“When I learned about myspace (I'm a teacher), and realized my son had a page, I made it my business to sign up for MySpace, too. I was saddened by what I saw. Although I think a lot of it is posturing, there were photographs of wild-looking parties, and pervasive use of inappropriate/crude language. The thrill of MySpace has worn off somewhat, and now he spends more time doing instant messaging, another huge time waster. My discipline strategy? I take the computer’s keyboard upstairs with me when I go to bed.”

Leslie from Issaquah, says parents and schools don’t really have control over kids when they aren’t being directly supervised. But she says schools CAN use the cruel and hatful things kids say to each other online as examples of how not to treat others.

“What is acceptable culture and acceptable behavior within the school? Is it respectful is it kind and is it supportive of other people learning? I think the golden opportunity of the online cruelty is that the words stay there, so parents and educators don’t have to go down that he said she said road, because it’s perfectly clear what children have said.”

Bill in Tacoma writes in an email that online etiquette should start at home:

“It looks as though another “new” class will need to be added to our middle school aged kids’ curriculum-“society etiquette”. Children are getting freedoms never known before, and they appear to be too young to handle it. This should be handled by proper parental upbringing. “

And then there’s Adrian of Auburn who might give some hope to parents competing with the computer for their child’s attention. He’s 20 years old and had a Myspace page when he was in High School.

“It really does take away from school. Like, kids check it all the time. I ended up deleting it recently. Just because it seems kind of superficial and fake.”

For parents just venturing into this territory, it’s recommended that the computer be placed in a very public part of the house, such as the living room or the kitchen. Know that there is usually an age requirement for websites like Myspace of at least 14. And ask to see your child’s webpage. If they let you, what you see may surprise you. JW 88.5 KPLU

The learning curve is an education reporting partnership between KPLU ans KCTS Public Television. For more information on this story go to KPLU.org and click on the Learning Curve.

The learning curve is an education reporting partnership between KPLU ans KCTS Public Television.