Mixed messages.

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Do we teach good netizenship to our pupils? Can we? Many schools have programs for fostering proper online behavior, some even going so far as to require their pupils to sign a pact declaring that they'll behave responsibly online. These pacts once focused on how we relate to others online, emphasizing how easy it is, behind a screen of anonymity, to slide into undesirable behaviors. It's my impression that over the years these programs have placed less and less emphasis on the nature of online interpersonal relationships, and have instead focused solely on the dangers of the internet and how to avoid them.

Though of us who, fifteen years ago, read Howard Rheingold's The Virtual Community probably cling to an idealized vision of what the internet can be - even if the reality of today's internet landscape belies that vision. Ideals, however, fade slowly, and many of us are still convinced that rather than trying to scare them away, we should be encouraging kids to explore, that we should be exposing them to the positive ways in which the internet can bring people together.

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Go to: Bad Netizenship.