Classroom

Student's Web Penmanship

Read about students as Web authors, male/female IT career choices, efforts to exempt schools from wiretap law, and how identity thieves target children.

Of U.S. students between the ages of 12 and 17 who go online, roughly 12 million, or 57 percent, create their own content, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The study found that 33 percent of online teens share their own creations, such as stories, artwork, photos and videos; 32 percent have either authored or worked on Web pages or blogs for someone else. About 22 percent author their own Web pages. Thirty-eight percent reported reading blogs, while 19 percent said they pen their own blogs or online journals.

SOURCE: PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT, NOVEMBER 2005

Boys More Likely Than Girls to Go Into I.T.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), 86 percent of parents want their children to continue their education after high school. And they have good reason. As the DOE reports, nearly 80 percent of the fastest-growing job categories require postsecondary education.

However, more boys than girls leave high school with an interest in pursuing a career in IT. In 2004, 85 percent of the students who took the Advanced Placement exam in computer science were boys, and boys posted higher scores on average than girls on the exam.

SOURCE: U. S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, JANUARY 2006

Wiretaps in Schools

K-12 educators from around the country are concerned about Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rulings that require facilities-based Internet service providers to be compliant with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. CALEA requires ISPs to install equipment that allows law enforcement to wiretap digital packets over the Internet.

Nine national educational associations have joined together to submit comments to the FCC. They want to make the case that K-12 schools should be exempt from the CALEA order because of the monetary and personnel expense involved in becoming compliant. Currently, law enforcement works directly with individual schools or their ISPs.

SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION, JANUARY 2006

Identity Thieves Target Kids

The nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center says that approximately one-fourth of its calls from consumers involve children. According to ITRC, identity thieves sell children’s Social Security numbers on the black market, use the information to establish a line of credit or “borrow” the information to get documentation, such as a driver’s license. The misuse and theft of children’s Social Security numbers has doubled in the last three years.

SOURCES: FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION; IDENTITY THEFT RESOURCE CENTER