Strollerderby
Is It OK To Be Scary And Inappropriate To Get Through To Teens?
A police officer’s talk on internet safety outraged an auditorium of high school students in Windsor, Colorado on Tuesday, when he made examples of students’ actual MySpace pages without asking them first.
John F. Gay III was trying to teach the students about how easily pedophiles can access personal information posted on MySpace and similar sites – which, I think we can all agree, is an important lesson. But the students and their parents think he crossed the line when he referred to one girl’s page as “slutty,” and told another girl that he showed her page to a prisoner, who then masturbated to her picture. When that student fled the room crying, Officer Gay called her, with a phone number he had found on the internet.
Now, maybe Officer Gay went a little too far when he painted a picture of a convicted sex offender jerking off to some poor high school girl’s photo – but on the other hand, would anything less shocking have gotten through to these kids?? And these teens are at risk – they’re posting a lot of personal info on their web pages, which makes them vulnerable to online predators. Would a straightforward presentation with a few bullet points on a blackboard have driven the point home as effectively?
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10 Comments
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amWhat upset those girls was NOT the language but the fact that someone nosed into their myspace. If the parents think that the Officer does not know what he is talking about they should go to see him at work and watch when he poses as a thirteen year old girl just how fast the perverts hit on his web page. If he came across in a less than politically correct way, TO BAD, maybe the yuppy generation should get a clue about what the real world is like.Maybe those things don’t happen at the golf course but while they are entertaining their, oh so important, party guests, their children are on myspace.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amUm, inappropriate to teach people that what they do has consequences? When SHOULD they learn that?
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amSorry, but I think it’s pretty ridiculous how far this guy went. This poor girl is getting calls and texts now from people she doesn’t know because this guy shared her number with the entire school, when he didn’t even get it from her page, he got it from someone else’s. Even when she left the room in tears, he continued to criticize her. C’mon, give me a break. I understand the point he’s trying to make, but completely humiliating a student is not the way to do it.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI think the cop sounds kinda perverted himself. Creepy.
haylmerri commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amCan this cop do a national school tour? I think you can’t stress enough how careful you need to be with kids on the internet. There’s no way for them to grasp how accessible their stuff really is when they post it on MySpace.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amWay to go Officer John! Hopefully those kids and parents have taken a hard look at what they have posted on public domains now. I also think it is interesting that all of the supposed quotes he made were never verified by him or other adults. Those comments are a lot of “well, I heard from so-in-so that this person told this person….” If the original reporting had been acurate, profesional, or unbiased, all sides would be represented! I would gladly have him come teach a class in our district if it meant saving even 1 student, parent, or staff from someone with criminal intent!
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amHere, here, Nicole!!
Sorry, but sometimes the truth hurts. You don’t get adult-sized actions without adult-sized consequences, period. I agree that maybe “slutty” was unnecessary, but otherwise someone has to drive the point home. Hopefully the parents of the kids pinpointed in the presentation forced their kids to either take down the pages or at least clean them up. I know I would.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amIf these kids think they are adult enough to post personal pictures and information about themselves, they need to know what people are doing with those things. We can’t let them post pictures (and lets be honest, a lot of kids are posting inappropriate images of themselves) and then protect them from the obvious, albeit unfortunate, repercussions of their actions. They will never learn about real life if we let them do whatever they want and then shield them from it’s harsh realities
BBBGMOM commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amWhen I was a teenager I think I would’ve been sufficiently rattled if a stranger knew my phone number. I don’t think the masturbation scenario was at all necessary. Poor kid – how humiliating and distressing. Also, calling the other girl’s page “slutty?” No. That says something not-so-nice about his own character. There are other ways to say that – revealing, suggestive, even dangerous… but not slutty. I can only imagine what the haters are doing to her in the hallway now.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amUm, wow. Maybe Officer Gay was trying to make a point, but that’s wildly inappropriate. That poor, poor girl.
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