Dear SLC,
I think your guest, "Beatrice", doesn't know what she is talking about. I am quite shocked. She demeans the entire school system in Canada.
There are many, many school with Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs). Just google that and you will find them. (TDSB, Wessex, Ottawa, Durham, NNDSB) You're giving air time to a woman who has no statistics, other than American ones, and doesn't know what she is talking about. That doesn't "sound like Canada" to me!
Parents and students must sign forms, usually embedded in a planner or school agenda. It is a standard practice.
For the most part, teachers must be vigilant in supervising students. Students cannot be left alone in a computer lab.
Vancouver is a different state than other provinces. That said, kids exploring site like Facebook in school time - that is the best time to do it. Most schools have created safe conditions, i.e. all the computers face the middle of the room and the teacher walks around surveying use. Most teachers assign work to do and surfing is not an option.
I have given many talks/workshops for parents and teacher-colleagues, and it is the parents who need more information. It is some principals who are afraid to institute discipline, but, for the most part, the schools are doing a fine job on educating kids on Internet Safety.
There are many things parents can do. But it is the parents who must be vigilant. Suggestions are here:
http://www.jilks.com/articles/InternetSafety.html
http://www.jilks.com/articles/InternetSafety.ppt.htm
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For a fun way to teach internet and social networking safety, here’s a unit that includes an instructional video and a quiz. It’s aimed at middle school and up.
http://www.auntlee.com/safety/
The video is a selection of silly clips supposedly posted to the MySpace pages of the famous auntlee.com puppy and some of her friends. The clips demonstrate mistakes kids can make – the clips and the quiz serve as a jumpstart to further discussions.
Kids can take the interactive Flash version online, or you can download a .pdf document and print it as a handout. The 10 question quiz covers the topics of cyber-bullying, privacy, safety, dangers of spyware and malware, etc.
The quiz doesn’t really focus on stranger-danger type concerns but rather gently and humorously reminds the reader that it’s possible to hurt people’s feelings, to mislead people who don’t realize you’re joking, to remember that online postings can be seen by anybody and that postings are often impossible to remove once posted.
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