Schools and Social Media

Okay so I went to a Saint Paul Public School. For those of you who didn't go to one, here's the scoop: in the school district social networking sites are banned! That's right, it's impossible for you to even get to the home pages of Facbook, Twitter, Youtube, or Myspace (like anyone goes on MySpace anymore anyways)

Okay well, I lied. It's not impossible. By the second semester of Freshman year you've spent enough time in the computer labs to figure out how to bypass the district blocks and get online to whatever site you want. It's not actually that hard. Just a matter of removing and adding certain letters. according to the New York Times It's quite common to block Social Networking sites, and just as common for students to bypass the systems 

When Thom McKay realized that his son had figured out how to get on the social networking site even though his New Jersey middle school had blocked it, he asked the boy in astonishment how he had done it.
“Pretty easy, Dad,” his son retorted. “Don’t be an idiot. We know more about computers than the teachers do.”(NYTimes)

Many schools block these sites because it could be a distraction. they say that it's just keeping focus away from what a student is doing.

I can't say I disagree. I started writing this at noon. It's now about an hour later. I've spent quite a bit of time chatting on Facebook with my best friend and watching Micky Mouse cartoons on YouTube (Don't judge me, you're never too old)

But there have been some benefits from Social Networking sites in the name of Education. My friends and I in high school have arranged study groups to meet online and exchange notes via Facebook, I've made event pages for study parties since I have started college.

Clay Shirky of Here Comes Everybody might be onto something when talking about  how social networking has made it a lot easier to organize groups of people.

This year, the state of Missouri has banned teachers from adding students as friends on Facebook saying it was unprofessional. I can see how they can find it inappropriate, students, teachers, people in general post too much on their page and some adults it would be hard to see in a professional light.

However, some people have argued that having teachers as friends on Facebook has been a good thing in helping students communicate with teachers. I've known some teachers to create special Facebook pages just for students and I've known others that refuse to add students as friends until they graduate from school.

It's really a complicated issue. It causes distractions, it causes organization, it's unprofessional, it's better connections, it reaches students on their levels. New media has created many new ethics and values on what is acceptable and what is not. But they are all so scattered and all so case by case that it's becoming really hard to really find out where the boundaries are. Even when there are some, people sure know how to cross them huh?

Riah J Davis

 

Learning and the Media

I think it's really frustrating how many people sit their kid in front of the TV to watch Nickelodeon or PBS kids Sprout. It's all like "Hey look an electronic babysitter! we don't even have to pay it and we can have it every day!" and then they'll "justify" it by saying it's educational or whatever.

The dumbest thing is how people think Baby Einstein is educational even after so many studies have shown that it is in fact no good. In 2009 Disney even offered refunds to parents that bought Baby Einstein videos. If that's not a sign that not even the company has enough faith to defend it.


Here are the facts: Back in 2002 when the videos first came out, there wasn't any research on whether these videos were any good for a child’s cognitive development. But recently  a survey by researchers at the University of Washington, found that for every hour of baby-video viewing per day, children ages 8 to 16 months knew six to eight fewer words than those who watched no videos. Now think about how many hours parents throw their children in front of the television per day, that is a lot of cognitive development that is not being accessed. 


Studies have shown that the best things that a child could do to have their cognitive abilities advance is to play outside, play with toys, have their parents read out loud to them, for the parents to talk (nicely) around their child. 


Whatever happened to children playing with play doh? or rolling in the grass? how many parents actually read their kids bedtime stories? We put them in front of the TV as soon as they are out of the womb and now we wonder why our kids are so behind in school when they go in 5 years later.


Riah

Introduction

Hello, My name is Riah J Davis.
I'm 19 years old and studying English, Education, and potentially a minor in Theatre at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The Twin Cities are two amazing cities. They say Minneapolis is the place to go hang out, and Saint Paul is the place to live. I do plan on living here my entire life.

(Image Source)

I have a strong belief in human enlightenment through arts, expression, discovery and exploration, that is what I plan to do with this blog.

Some readers may remember me from the blog A Girl Underground. Well as it turns out I can somehow no longer access it through my Hamline e-mail and can't go in to edit it or post on it anymore. So instead, this is where my blog is going to be held. This here may have a bit more focus than my last blog did. You can still follow me on Twitter, and Tumblr and pretty soon I will be launching another blog via WordPress specifically about Urban Education.

Through this blog I will express creativity and enlightenment along with an analysis on cultural society of America. I will show how education, enlightenment and creativity are affected by society through technology, media, and other types of new advencements in our would said to make our lives become better.