Parents are warned to better monitor their children
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DANIEL JOANN MACMULLIN, a leading member of Operation Future, has revealed that many primary school students of Grades Four, Five and Six in the Federation are familiar with a number of pornographic websites.
MacMullin made this disclosure following Operation Future’s visit to a certain primary school with the aim of addressing “Bullying”, as the non-profit organisation has declared November “Anti-Bullying Month”.
According to MacMullin, the organisation has designed a new presentation aimed at children addressing bullying, what it is, who it impacts and how to deal with it.
“It is our goal to visit every school in the Federation by the end of November and make this presentation,” MacMullin said.
He noted that in Operation Future’s presentations in the schools, they had learnt that bullying goes beyond the learning institutions and it is the members’ goal in 2012 to prepare new presentations to target parents and teachers.
MacMullin explained that part of their presentation to the students addresses the issues of cyber-bullying, which is defined as the use of technology, such as the internet or text messaging to post derogatory or hateful material about another.
He added that this is the new face of bullying and they generally start this area of the presentation by asking students who can define cyber-bullying.
“We have yet to be disappointed in each school. Students have stood and given an accurate definition of what cyber-bullying entails. Further, the looks on the students’ faces also make it clear that it is a problem in our schools.”
He noted that in their definitions, the students had given examples of websites where they could post things to embarrass their classmates.
“Recently, while in a primary school, students began calling out websites where things could be posted. Among the websites were the expected YouTube, Hi5 and other common social network sites. Then, there was the unexpected! The children began calling out pornographic websites. This was not the odd child, as when the sites were named the reaction of the class clearly demonstrated that many were familiar with the content of the sites.
The names of these sites did not disclose the content as the names were often relatively innocuous. In many cases the members of Operation Future were not familiar with the sites and the children explained the content. Again, this was primary school, Grades Four, Five and Six, and we were shocked. But it again it highlights an area of concern.”
He stressed that the nation’s youth are living in the computer age and are familiar with online technology and that they are accessing it without supervision.
“The moral fabric of our youth is commonly being called into question today. However, who is at fault? If we give a child a dangerous weapon without proper supervision and the child hurts themselves, who do you blame, who is the one that is being irresponsible? The computer, for all its gifts, comes with many problems.”
He identified cyber-bullying as one of those problems, noting that in the past when something happened on the school ground, it was usually forgotten within a few days as there was no record of the event or issue beyond memory.
“Today, however,” he explained, “thanks to cellular phone cameras the same event finds its way to YouTube to be shared with the world for eternity. Thus an embarrassing moment becomes a lifetime.”
He opined that the technology is being utilised as a weapon in the case of cyber-bullying and clearly as a tool for moral corruption.
“Our children are accessing material on the internet that may not be appropriate for adults, let alone tender developing minds. They are able to do this because we are not providing the appropriate supervision, nor are we keeping up with the changing time.
“I am reasonably certain that many of those who are allowing their children unsupervised access to the internet in their day would not have thought of carrying a playboy magazine into the house for fear of their mother finding it. Now their children are carrying, in the form of a harmless computer, a library of pornography and offensive material that make playboy look tame.”
MacMullin advised that if parents or guardians were concerned about the moral fabric of their children, and they have made available the technology of the computer age to them, these caretakers must ensure that they are also responsible enough to supervise how this technology is being utilised, “otherwise, we are to blame for the consequences”.
It is therefore hoped that with the recent distribution of hundreds of computers to students and another batch soon to be distributed, they [students] will use them for their academic development and not to surf the web for pornography or to post derogatory or harmful material about other people.
Since its formation, members of Operation Future have not only been educating children about the disastrous effects of guns, gangs, illegal drugs and violence, but also adults.
The organisation’s Mission Statement is: To interact with, educate and embrace our nation's youth, in our concerted quest to positively guide and nurture their young minds to heighten their awareness about crime and keep them on the straight and narrow path.
