Growing Up in Public

Earlier this year, Michael G. Fitzpatrick, a Republican representative from Pennsylvania, introduced a bill that would prohibit minors from using MySpace on public computers (The Chronicle, May 12)—and announced that the bill was intended "to protect children from the Internet." Mr. Fitzpatrick’s choice of words seems revealing: In the eyes of many lawmakers (and, perhaps, a growing number of frustrated administrators), social-networking sites are intrinsically dangerous and corruptive.

But much of the hand-wringing over MySpace misses the point, argues Stephen Downes, of Canada’s National Research Council, in a thoughtful essay at Half an Hour.

The mere fact of MySpace’s existence isn’t a problem, Mr. Downes writes: In fact, he argues, the site can push young users to think critically by exposing them to a diversity of opinions. When MySpace is a bad influence on kids, it’s usually because of "badly behaving adults," he says:

Is our best response, though, to kick the kids off MySpace? … After all, if a grown man came to a school playground and started swearing and drinking and making lewd remarks, we would react by removing the adult, not by preventing children from accessing the park.

In fact, Mr. Downes says, parents and teachers should welcome MySpace and its ilk. Children will always find ways to act out, he writes, "but now they are doing it in a public space, where we can see what they are doing, and if we can restrain ourselves a bit, and give the kids some room to grow, we can watch out for the really dangerous things.” Share your views on the issue here. —Brock Read