[Yr7-10it] Double Standards??

[Roland Gesthuizen]

Ros, your school ban on Moodle RSS feeds with local newspapers because of
the language used is foolish and short-sighted! In wonder what others think?

If I can take some liberty at repeating the words I used with a post from
last year, Bill Kerr was splendid in his summary of the new tension between
technology freedom and control when he discussed:

"This argument -- that the internet is a place we have to protect children
from -- will become the main argument against the widespread distribution of
netbooks and free software to children in educational settings. The
technology increasingly moves us towards personal and individual
empowerment; the moral argument that freedom is too dangerous to handle
moves us in the opposite direction."

I also noticed some discussion on a WA list about the problems of censoring
the Internet based on language.

Previously, a word based e-mail filter we used cut out posts from our sister
school out because the Japanese principal had an expletive nicely positioned
in his middle name. I have fallen for the trap with my native Dutch that
calls sugar, Bastard suiker. It is pushing the boundary of this list and
topic but if anybody else speaks Dutch, they will understand the hillarity
of my Dutch grandmother calling out for a tradesman in Australia.

Students here have demonstrated that they can bypass department endorsed
filters using Chinese, Arabic, Russian and even Khmer and Sinhala. All it
takes is a language translation tool, imagination and search engine to dig
up dirt around any filter. We can easily stop this train with the super
powers that teachers acquire from their practice in the classroom.

My sense of smell is now so finely tuned that I can sniff out a smoker from
100 meters on the school oval and even the chemical residue on their
clothing. The keen eyes we grow on the back of our heads can spot an
inappropriate website from 20 meters away when our front is turned to the
whiteboard. We can even process the fine motor movements and body language
from a student who is not paying attention in class when they are reading an
inappropriate magazine or book under the desk. Our collective x-ray vision
that can even eventually penetrate inappropriate posters displayed in
lockers whilst we are on patrol. Our sensitive ears trigger an automatic
synaptic frown and verbal response when the boundaries of inappropriate
language are breached.

Of course, all this work that you do for the greater good helps to set
standards for appropriate behaviour at your school and it doesn't even
require the blinkered technological response mandated by your school.

You will need all the super powers you can muster to identify and battle the
dark forces that are swirling around you. The battle is real and at stake is
your freedom to work and practice as a classroom educator.

Regards Roland

2009/3/11 Ros Meadows <ros.meadows at gmail.com>

>  Hi all
>
> The moodle site I set up on our web server was inaccessible for some time
> today - the message ACCESS: DENIED came up.
> Wondering why this was so I spent some time using my mobile broadband
> internet connection to log into it and investigate student logs and profile
> pics, looking for obscenities etc
> In frustration I returned to the home page only to scroll down and see the
> RSS feeds (Herald Sun Top Stories and Tech News) featuring articles on
>     - NBL player involved in a s&x assault
>     - Home and Away to feature a le$bi at n romance (It was referred to as
> "Home and a Gay")
>     - Gmail servers down due to p0rn attack
> (misspellings here so this email will hopefully get through Kevork's filter
> system!!)
>
> No wonder the filter had banned the site!!
>
> So I fixed it by completely deleting all of the RSS feeds, but I
> contemplated the fact that students in my class could get up and walk to the
> other side of the Library, pick up a copy of the Herald Sun, and read, in
> full, all three articles. Oh how their minds would become corrupt by this
> act!!!
>
> Yet the whole moodle site was blocked - even though it only displayed the
> headings!!
>
> Double Standards?? Or perhaps we should also ban students from reading
> newspapers at school?????
>
> Sometimes ya just gotta have a giggle!
>
> Cheers
> The Lone Moodler
> Ros Meadows
> BentleighSC
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-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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