Appalling Conference Topic

I get this email invitation the other day, and I begin to think, our problem is not technology, it is a mindset that pits adults against students. 'Students are the enemy" and should be treated as such should be the theme of the conference. I'm disgusted that a company (Securiant) exists, but even more disgusted that an ETTC (not ours) would host such a conference. Shame on these bullies!

Here's the invite:

My Network vs. MySpace: Beating students at their own game

Today’s tech-savvy students enjoy taking risks and have easy access to negative content. Richard J.B. Campbell of Securiant will discuss how K-12 organizations can address inappropriate web content and the explosion of social websites like MySpace and YouTube while effectively securing their networks with a limited staff and budget.

Don’t miss your opportunity to hear from an expert and innovator in the education network security industry!

I'm betting he is an experrt of fear motivation, and an innovator of nothing. I will keep my thoughts short, because I could begin using inappropriate language. First, one who believes it is the educators task to "Beat students at their own game" is unworthy of an educator's attention. It is not a contest or sporting event. It is education. Students are never our enemy. Second, with someone who has the attitude that students are the enemy, why would I ever want him to tell me what is and is not appropriate. His views on life are warped. Third, I doubt that Securiant, or it's "innovators," has any idea about the positives of social networking and the advent and advantage of publishing content for the world. This could be the greatest educational revolution in the history of the world, but... This company has not innovated, they have merely joined the diatribe of spreading fear in the education community because we are willing to spend too much money because we shirk our responsibility of learning about the nature and benefit of emerging technologies we refuse to understand.

Again I ask, when will the student's future take precedence over a computer network? It seems to me that if Tech people are so afraid of their precious hardware that it would make sense to create 2 different ones - a "secure network" for things that need protection (files, permanent records, grades, and junk like that), and an educational network that if a virus entered, it would mean a day or two of down time to blow away the system and rebuild. No information that is important would be lost, because student work would be saved in online storage, and important system documents would not be a part of the educational network.

Of course, we could also use Macs and not have to worry so much about our network breaches and concentrate on productivity.