Text Ed for 7th graders
Text Education is coming to Canadian schools in the form of TextEd curriculum. This Times-Colonist online article reports that during the month of January 100 seventh grade classrooms across Canada will begin implementing the new curriculum. The remainder of schools will implement the program in September 2010.
The article reports:
The initiative, thought to be the first of its kind in Canada, aims to address what police call "an education gap" that's made young people vulnerable to a swath of text-related risks.
"It doesn't even have to pertain to an adult offender; we're seeing so much harm come to adolescents within their own peer circle, whereby they're sending nude images or inappropriate messages (by phone), and those are being transferred to a larger group of individuals," says Signy Arnason, who works with the Centre for Child Protection.
According to some recent research more and more students are engaging in this kind of behavior:
A recent report by the Pew Research Center found 15 per cent of youth aged 12 to 17 had received sexually suggestive photos or videos on their personal cellphones. A similar survey for LG Electronics last year suggested the number is even higher, with 22 per cent of teens claiming to have received a naked picture on their mobile phone.
The article implies that teachers have not been trained to address the issues surrounding the explosion of electronic devices and that the new curriculum is trying to close that gap. The curriculum consists of three lesson plans consisting of 40 - 90 minutes each.
I think a full scale approach like this during the junior high years is a good idea. By the time students reach high school it is too late to be addressing some of these issues. Parents also need to be alerted to the problems cell phones and iPods can cause in the life of their teenage children. I recommend having an evening where parents come to the school and are educated about the potential problems that exist with today's mobile technology. At the same time we need to accentuate the positive elements of the new technology and how it can be used to assist their children in school and beyond.
As Bernard Lord, president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, was quoted as saying:
"The technology is here to stay, so we have to teach kids to use it properly."
