/ 21 October 2009

Banning cellphones not the answer

Imagine for a moment the following situation: there is a school in Somewhere Land with a principal who is a good man (or woman) and who wants the best for his learners.

They must be given all the support they need in order to excel academically and become well-rounded young citizens.

They must also be protected as far as possible from the dangers and temptations of modern life.

Mr Principal loves his school and knows the grounds well, except for one area — the playground. It is behind the school. He has never been there himself because that area is for children and not for adults.

Slowly but surely he begins to hear stories about the things that happen there. Only last week a boy was bullied. A girl came in crying after she found out that the boys were calling her a slut. The drug tik has been available behind the bicycle shed.

He has heard that on the playground of a neighbouring school a grade 11 learner was stabbed to death. On his own grounds a suspicious-looking man — potentially a paedophile — has been spotted leaning over the fence, talking to the schoolgirls. By these accounts, the playground is the place where children get up to no good and are exposed to very dangerous people. Mr Principal is angry and desperate.

There is only one solution, he thinks: all learners must be banned from the playground.

One of his teachers tries to dissuade him: “The playground is a vital part of the school,” she says. “The learners take a break there, clear their heads. They learn to socialise with friends — and strangers — and begin to define their own identity. They must make real life choices — sometime the right ones, and sometimes not. Above all, they play! That is the first form of learning for all children and a vital part of development.”

Mr Principal doesn’t know what to do. He is confused. Finally he declares: “No, the only solution is a ban. I don’t understand the playground and I’m not going there myself, so for the safety of the learners it must be banned.”

This story sounds far-fetched, but it is not. Last month I gave a presentation about mobile learning — or “mlearning” — to 230 principals in Gauteng. At most of their schools cellphones are banned, especially when used for chatting.

Out of curiosity I asked how many principals were on MXit, the popular mobile instant messaging service. Four principals put up their hands. How many more had ever seen MXit? Two more hands. In other words, 97% of this group of principals had never even seen MXit in action, let alone used it.

Teens chat to one another, and sometimes strangers, on their cellphones using such services as MXit, Nok Nok, Mig33 or Hi5. In many ways, this is a playground for them, with all its ups and downs.

On the downside there is cyber-bullying — where teens are bullied or harassed via SMS or Chat or some other electronic communications medium; the infamous “slut lists” of allegedly promiscuous girls did the rounds on MXit last year; it is said that drugs deals are often brokered via chat services and finally, young people have been abducted by “friends” they made on MXit. This sounds a lot like the physical playground.

On the upside, while different from face-to-face interaction, socialising online is an important part of living and learning in the 21st century. Developing and playing with different identities is the way one learns how to handle different situations in the networked society in which we now live.

The physical world has become so dangerous that many young people are not allowed outside enough, at least not as much as the current generation of teachers would have been allowed. Danah Boyd, a leading online social network expert in the United States, found the same with teens there. From their bedrooms they chatted and “friended” on their cellphones a lot, and at odd hours, precisely because that was their only way of hanging out with their friends, albeit virtually.

As principals, teachers, parents and researchers, we have a duty to understand the activities of the school playground, the dynamics, the risks and opportunities and the moments of pain and happiness for learners there. In the same way, we must engage — not necessarily like, or support, or encourage, but engage — the virtual playground of our digital youth.

Like the real playground, there are risks online — sometimes deadly ones. We must do everything in our power to reduce them. But we cannot do that effectively when 97% of us have never stepped a foot on to that playground.
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