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Send Your Child to College FREE!
College is one of the largest expenses through the course of your child’s life. It is also one of the main causes of debt in America. With today’s rates of inflation, it is very hard to save for an event that will occur eighteen years down the...
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Are Public Schools A Menace To Your Kids? -- 11 Danger Signals
Parents, do you have children who do poorly in school, or are bored or frustrated with their classes or teachers? In contrast to what most public-school officials will tell you, in most cases the problem lies with the schools, not with...
The Importance Of A College Education
It cannot be stressed enough to young people that a college education is the only way to obtain a good job and the type of job that will allow for a comfortable lifetime income and a secure future. My nephew said just last night that he wanted to be...
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Lesson Plans that Reach the Multiple Intelligences
American schools have traditionally favored those students who excel in the linguistic and analytical arenas because these skills are highly valued in our culture. Unfortunately, this traditional approach leaves certain students behind to stumble...
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Are Chat Rooms A Menace To Your Children?
My answer would be: yes, with qualifications.
I've been running internet chat rooms since 1998, at http://www.tigertom.com/chat_rooms.htm. Nothing fancy. The software was freely available. I just had to make some important modifications: adding bad word filters and automated 'kicking' (ejection from the rooms).
You think free speech is a good thing, until you read what anonymous, malevolent young men say to fifteen-year-old girls. It isn't Shakespeare, let me tell you that.
That's another key point: anonymity. A pillar of the free speech argument. Let freedom fighters and the repressed masses have their say! Except it's more likely a twenty-five-year-old sociopath pretending to be sixteen and making young girls cry with his sickening profanity.
Free from all morés, and safe from physical retribution, we see the contents of the subconscious pour forth unrestrained. And a hellish stream of psychic sewage it is.
This can be combated by bad word filters and having human moderators. The most important shield of all, I think, is education. "Don't take candy from strangers", "You don't need drugs until you're ill", and now: "Don't bandy words with trolls" (people who deliberately upset other internet users with provocative language).
Most chat rooms now have an 'ignore' function. It's a bit like the hooligan in the street: he's *looking* for a reaction; if you ignore him, it's infuriating. To him. You glide on by, figuratively speaking, while he rants on unheard.
Parents should take an interest in what their children are doing online. See if you can find out what service they've joined, and join up yourself; get a taste of it. Teenagers define themselves as adults-to-be by choosing a different path to their parents: if you are conservative, they'll try liberalism, and
vice-versa.
Therefore, you shouldn't try to join in with their activities as an equal; just keep informed.
They may gripe, but secretly they're glad you care. A parent who lets their child do whatever they want gives them no standard to measure themselves against.
Another problem with basic chat rooms is that you can develop an intense relationship with someone you can't see and haven't met in the flesh; there's a fantasy element. Your thoughts pour forth freely, you believe you've met a soul mate. You may even meet them, and the illusion continues ...
... until you eventually realise he or she is just a human being after all, and breaks wind like everyone else.
There is hope, however. With the advent of cheap digital video cameras, internet telephony and broadband, people will be less able to hide: "What do you mean, you're shy? You weren't shy a minute ago!". Old-fashioned, sensible prejudices will assert themselves: "Soooo, 'Zorro' from Cambridge is really fat, spotty Darren from Dartford ... next!". eap digital video cameras, internet telephony and broadband, people will be less able to hide: "What do you mean, you're shy? You weren't shy a minute ago!". Old-fashioned, sensible prejudices will assert themselves: "Soooo, 'Zorro' from Cambridge is really fat, spotty Darren from Dartford ... next!".
About The Author:
T. O' Donnell http://www.ttchat.co.uk is an ecommerce consultant in London, UK. His latest project is a freeware loan calculator, available at http://www.tigertom.com/personal-loans-uk.shtml
Copyright T. O' Donnell - http://www.tigertom.com/personal-loans-uk.shtml
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