This evening, my daughter passed by me on the way to the fridge, iPod in hand and a sheaf of colored papers in the other. “You have to sign these,” the papers suddenly fell under my ownership as my teen stuck her head in the fridge to debate whether to eat a salad or sandwich.
“What are they?” Papers from school, obviously, the logo branded at the top left of each page.
“Permission slips for this year,” she informed me. “One’s to get a pass to leave school.” I’d heard about the day passes and we’d already agreed on the rules. I got a pen ready.
“The other is to let the school publish my stuff on the web.”
At this point, my attention swiveled to the words on the papers, and I read each one carefully. Medical form, student schedule, school fees, the day pass slip… and a slip that advised me that my daughter’s photo, poems, research, stories, and personal web page would be published on the Internet.
Pardon me?
The school’s slip advised that the web is a big place (no kidding) and that anything published on the Internet can be manipulated, passed on, distributed, etc, etc. (as if I didn’t know that already). They wanted my permission to post my daughter’s personal information and photos on the web as – get this – part of a research project. Oh, and they also want her to create and publish a personal home page.
Were they planning to research how long it takes my kid to be stalked, have her identity stolen or be kidnapped?
We have house rules when she stays here. She has her own laptop but she has my respect and trust that she’ll be careful. We’ve talked about virus protection, visiting sites, opening emails, and most of all, protecting personally identifying information. I’ve grilled her, tested her, checked her browser history, cookies and cache from time to time, and I even monitored her Internet use for a while. Okay, and I read a couple of her chat logs. Just two, I swear.
But when she hits school, it seems that the administration and teachers will not only approve of but encourage and instigate posting of personal information on the Internet by young teens. I won’t sign the sheet. I’ll also be calling the school and discussing the matter.
I work in an online business and the Internet is something I deal with daily. And yet, I can’t trust the virtual world I live in to be a safe one for my daughter to learn in.
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