Teaching crude teens good digital citizenship

Teaching crude teens good digital citizenship - Philly.com CollectionsTeaching crude teens good digital citizenshipAugust 31, 2011|By Sharon Noguchi, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

Exploring the frontiers of newfound freedom, many tweens and teens quickly embrace the raunchy, rude lingo of cyberspace, casually flinging insults, obscenities, and taunts that make chat rooms sound like barrooms.

"Foul language is just what is popular," said Rachel Carrasquillo, a junior at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif. "I think half of the stuff people say on Facebook they'd never say face to face."

But now, as kids head back to school, they may find more adults are paying attention. Educators increasingly are joining in to challenge the crude culture of social networks, which they fear unleashes cyberbullying and sexting, heightens the social drama of puberty, and teaches the wrong values.

Even though Facebook flaming usually originates off campus, more schools are teaching "digital citizenship," how to care for online profiles, deal with bullies, and speak up for what's right - a critical skill because teens often don't take problems to adults.

A recent check of Formspring, an anonymous opinion site, shows what the adults are up against. On the site, Palo Alto, Calif., middle schoolers chatted about the size of classmates' body parts and who was having sex. On Facebook, one boy wrote to a girl: "go away b4 u get gang raped."

How is it that kids' conversation has become so nonchalantly, and publicly, crude? Partly, they don't have impulse control and can type whatever pops into their minds, said Caroline Knorr of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit offering free curricula for schools on digital literacy. And partly, they're exploring their identity. "They say, OK, I'm not like this in real life, but I can be like this on the Internet," she said.

A large part is that no adult is paying attention.

Slowly, that's changing.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education has set up an anti-bullying task force. The Silicon Valley Interschool Council, composed of high school students, hopes to launch a campaign encouraging students to counter cyberbullying.

Newly signed legislation, sponsored by State Assembly Member Nora Campos (D., San Jose, Calif.), enables schools to suspend students who bully others on social networks. Among others, the Oakland Unified School District is considering a policy to specifically prohibit cyberbullying.

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