Guest Editorial
This was sent in by Joe Showker, teacher at the Montevideo Middle School in Rockingham County, Virginia. Yes, Joe is my brother, and yes, we thought it important enough to publish in the pages of 60-Second Window.
#103
Joe Showker
Each year the Health teachers at my school embark on the most challenging teaching unit of the year... family life. Many of the topics are sensitive and tough to work through.
One topic of interest is "media messages" and the overwhelming onslaught of information being pushed at us each day. This data, much of it explicit, is "planted" in our young people through TV, music, the printed media, and most recently, the internet. Much of this information is as sensitive as the very topics we discuss in family life.
Ten years ago parental concern about FLE was high. Today, we sense a disregard by many parents for what is going into their children's minds. I'm not speaking of the FLE course we teach, but rather what's being viewed in the homes of our students. Like wet cement, our students are molded by the media-driven society they live in. What FLE teachers found was a "ho-hum" attitude about everything from premarital sex to AIDS to sexual abuse and harassment.
An impromptu survey of my FLE classes found that 75% of students have TVs in their rooms and well over half have full cable access. I remember growing up in the 70's... Channel 3 with rabbit ears on a black and white TV was as good as it got in my home town. Not a whole lot of sexually explicit messages were seen on Marcus Welby.
Now, many of our students get all the programming they want, any time they want it. With satellite dishes and cable, a 11 year old is free to tune into everything imaginable in adult programming. "Basic Instinct" (not exactly a family show) aired during the month of October at 8pm on two cable channels. As a parent, I found this revolting. I had to call home to my wife to cut off the TV (before my 8 year old scrolled across the opening scene). As a teacher of FLE, I found it unbelievable. Explicitly charged programming -- from MTV's homosexual quiz show to HBO is readily and privately available to many of our students. No wonder the in-class response to a rape picture on a popular album cover was met with "cool" and "awesome". I guess that's why they call it programming!
In the last 3 years the stakes have gotten higher. The messages are now explicit and in many cases without any regard for decency or exploitation. I'm talking of the internet, AOL and the unrestricted access to it in over half of the internet equipped homes of our area students.
A survey was conducted on computer home use of our students. We were interested in a possible correlation between learning, the SOL scores and computers in the home. The survey told us that 3 out of 4 students at our school have a home computer. 74% have internet access and of those, only 43% have any kind of filtering software. 80% of our students use AOL or a packaged application to get on the internet. And finally, 58% of our students on the internet have different email addresses than their parents. And in most cases, email with no filters or controls.
While the computer is an important and enriching tool in the education of our children, there is great need for responsible supervision by parents.
What does all this mean?
NOW MORE THAN EVER, there is a battle for the minds and thoughts of our young people. At a recent PTA meeting, a disappointingly small group of concerned parents saw what is available on the net. They saw how an AOL account with no parental controls gave a young person full access to the explicit adult sites, newsgroups and soliciting email called "spam". They saw how email from porn sites bombards a young person's mailbox with words and suggestions no parent would allow in their home. But more importantly the parents gasped as they saw the email images that were available with just one click. Without the close supervision and knowledge of how it works by a loving parent, adult oriented email streams into the home. Finally, they heard of an 11pm Wednesday night chat session in an adult chat group with a 12 year old girl on a computer in her room while "her parents were asleep".
What can you do as a parent?
FIRST GIVE SERIOUS THOUGHT to the access that is provided your son or daughter through electronic mediums like cable TV or internet access. Learn how to set up internet accounts with parental controls and "safe" internet filtering.
Next, take serious measures to restrict too much time spent online. Chat groups, while "cool" for our students are simply like staying on the phone for hours at a time. We've had students with compulsive behavior tendencies involving chat rooms on the internet. Limit time on-line.
Finally, learn how to monitor sites that have been visited and graphics that have been viewed. Take an active part in this process.
Joe Showker is an Educator, speaker and parent activist. He sends this article from his office in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He teaches at the Montevideo Middle School in the Eastern school district of Rockingham County, Virginia.
This article is copyright, 1998, 1999 for Joe Showker. For reprint permission contact
Joe Showker
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