Speaking of MySpace.com, schools around here are absolutely up in arms over it. One recent front page headline in the local paper read: "TEEN WEB USE ALARMS SCHOOL - Officials say material in online profiles may shock parents, is easily accessible to strangers" The article goes on to explain how school officials are shocked by " Eleven-year-olds posing as 16-year-olds, teenagers posting pictures of themselves drinking beer or smoking marijuana, and students displaying semi-naked pictures of themselves on a Web site visited by millions of people daily ... myspace.com allows students to go on the site free of charge and create profiles of themselves, using actual pictures, real names, home addresses, personal thoughts and, in some cases, places of work and hangouts." One high school even went so far recently as to phone 1,200 parents to ask them to please attend an Internet safety seminar the school was holding, but of that group, only 22 parents actually showed up. The school chalked up the low turnout to either parent apathy or the possibility that some parents condoned what their children were doing. And having taught high school (even though it was back in the mid '80s), I can't say either possibility would surprise me...
