We often hear conversations among parents about the amount of time our youth spend on computers. It used to be a novelty for kids to have an hour or two each to play video games and then they would be kicked off to go play outside or read a book, a real book, not one on-line.
For various reasons, parents have given in more and more to their kids and now it’s common for pre-schoolers to be given Ipads to keep them quiet. Parents are amazed at how quickly their children master the device it takes the adults months to get the hang of. After all, they say their children will need to know how to use these devices to go to college and get a job.
And feeding the beast is the public school system. For some reason, administrators tell us kids need to know how to navigate computers and the internet so they will have life skills or they won’t be able to go to college or get a job. It’s ironic the parents of the 3-year old are proud of how their child has mastered technology but schools tell us that isn’t the case.
So one by one, school district after school district purchases various tablets and computers for all, so the children sit in front of screens for even more hours of the day. It is mandated they have an email account, complete group projects on-line, download homework and tests, and research for their papers. Parents who complain to their school boards they are concerned about what their kids might download while on the districts’ tablets are told not to worry, precautions have been taken.
Recently in the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado, a parent was perusing her child’s school computer and the links available. She came across something she had never heard of: EBSCO Information Services and its K-12 databases. The story went something like this–students need to research and EBSCO is one of the database companies available to school districts for kids to access via the password given to them by their school.
The parent decided to click on the EBSCO link and was appalled at what kind of material popped up. Ads for sex toys, porn sites, and other obscene images appear no matter what kind of content is being researched. Somehow these billion dollar industries have made deals with EBSCO to promote their material to children as young as elementary school. Think of how many schools are in your town, your county, and your state. How many students attend each school on average? Multiply that by 50 states. That is a huge market for the sex and porn industry.
Watch this video to see how EBSCO works in schools.
When the Cherry Creek family approached the bureaucrats running their child’s school, they got nowhere. They contacted the district, went to school board meetings, and informed other parents. Unfortunately, they didn’t make much progress against the district’s ties to EBSCO. To nobody’s surprise, they were marginalized by the school district. Like many others, since the media looked the other way they developed a website to inform the public and warn others about what may be lurking in their state.
Since Arizona has so many laws on the books to protect its students while attending a public or charter school, we decided to check out Tempe Union High School District to see if they are linked to EBSCO and the pornographic material. It turns out they are.
It didn’t take long to get to gay/porn informational links, in fact searching for “sex ed” led us right to gay sex. We have inserted screenshots of the quick path into porn through Tempe High Schools:
On the first page, option #4 links to troubled Davey Wavey’s media sites.
If you have children, do not let them view Davey Wavey’s page on EBSCO. Only let them if they access Davey Wavey through that government school you are making them attend. The page lists his social media. Here is his twitter page, again close your eyes if you are a minor and not accessing this through your school.
Yes, many of our youth have Twitter, Facebook, and other social media accounts so they can access Davey Wavey on their own. But how much easier do we have to make this for them? We give them the electronic devices, we give them access to the material through schools, and then we wonder why our youth are confused about their sexuality and many other things. Where are the adults who are to be protecting them and guiding them? Children are virtually on their own navigating these sites or navigating with friends.
The material linked in this post is not legal to be taught in Arizona pubic or charter schools. But is it legal for the school library to allow students to link to this material?
If you don’t have access to a school password to access links via the schools, ask your district for one so you can see what your children are “learning”. You are paying the administrators, you paid for the buildings, and you are paying for the computers the students are using. You have a vested interest in this besides a responsibility to do the right thing and save our kids.
What does it take to get parents to pay attention? BTW typo:
“The material linked in this post is not legal to be taught in Arizona PUBLIC or charter schools.”