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Why Do You Ask?

From asking questions that require an answer To asking questions that require a conversation.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

What Point Are They Really Making?

Here's the full article.

I was reading through some old posts from Sheryl's blog. She wrote about the story of a school gone crazy.

But I have taken a few minutes to reflect on this issue. First, let me say I wrote about this type of absurdity in January 2008.

Second, let me say I take more than a little pride in the fact that my sense of humor is warped, and I believe that sometimes one must go to extremes to make a point before others "get it."

Could it be that this school in the UK (Cann Hall Primary School in Clacton, Essex) is trying to show it's online readers how crazy their online policy is, and that they are having faces covered up to get parents/grandparents upset that they cannot see their "little babies?"

Sorry, I got a little carried away; hoping that schools would actually be intelligent enough to try such a tactic.

But in a twist...the comments on Sheryl's post and the original post indicate that "normal" people find this smiley face alteration to be outrageous, ludacris, ridiculous, silly, and, and, and -- what's the word -- STUPID.

So, whether Cann Hall wanted to demonstrate how education's approach to "protecting the chilllldren" from the online bogeyman is not practical, they are doing it none-the-less.

More needs to be made of this issue and story.

Update on my January 31 post -- No ballerinas were harmed even though potential predators had a nearly 3-month time frame in which to target them.

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posted by Ric Murry @ 10:48 AM

2 Comments:

At 12:49 PM, Blogger Scott Merrick said...

Wow. I love yr subtitle. And yes, those responsible for this ludicrous "non-celebration" are all the things you say they are, albeit driven more by fear and cluelessness than by reasoned safety concerns. I shared my own kids' amazingly creative performance (of a song they co-wrote and performed before an audience of school friends and families) recently and when I mentioned that to a colleague, his reaction was, "You put your kids on the internet?" I felt bad. For a minute. Of course I do, when the audience to appreciate the results of their creative collaboration is there. Family members states away who may not otherwise have experienced the performance can do so, thought the effect would certainly be minimalized by smiley masks over their faces.

It's called the 21st century, fearful school administrators...

 
At 1:01 PM, Blogger Ric Murry said...

Thanks for stopping by Scott. I've had several of our students say they post things online so family could "watch them" grow up. The POWER of the Internet is greater than the fear of the Internet.

Maybe that should become a Math Standard so it would have to be taught. :-)

 

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