What The Telecommunications Act May Mean to Us

Why am I using this space to make a personal comment about the recently enacted Telecommunications Act? As a parent and a teacher I'm concerned about some of the assumptions being made about how to "protect" our children. In preparing the Acceptable Use Policy for the Holland Public Schools, we debated whether it was the school that would be responsible for what information staff and students accessed via the district's computer network or the responsibility of each individual user. The decision was made to write the policy with the later belief. In order to teach students to be responsible citizens, they need to be given that responsibility (although there might be developmentally appropriate restraint exercised).

As a parent of young children already sending e-mail messages and downloading pictures of Elmo, it is my responsibility that they learn to do so ethically, not the government's.

Regardless of how you feel about this issue, be sure to check out this link to a list of sites that may no longer exist as the result of this legislation: Is This What They Mean by "Indecent"? prepared by the Electronic Freedom Foundation.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to contact me, paws@macatawa.org
Peter Butts, Media Specialist
East Middle School

February 11,1996