Ethics and the Internet

Stig Roland RASK <rask@swipnet.se>
Foundation for Knowledge and Competence Development
Sweden

Abstract

Even recognizing cultural differences, there is content on the Internet that most people would consider questionable for children.

What options do we have for addressing this problem?

Is censorship or filtering a good way of dealing with this problems, or will it just cause us to naively lean back and shirk our responsibilities?

I believe that the development of the Internet necessitate that ethical issues must be given greater consideration. Developing methods that will develop the ethical awareness of the students is one of the most important tasks for a school today.

Our experience tells us that the use of new technology can be one of the pieces in this very important puzzle. The Internet could be the solution to its own problem, the answer to its own question.

Contents

Introduction

My name is Stig Roland Rask. I was born in 1953 and have been working as a teacher in Music, Social Society and Religious Education at Fredriksdalskolan (Fredriksdal School) in Lidköping since 1980.

In 1997 I become the manager of a project named "Ethics and the Internet -- soft issues and hard wares" which receives support from the Swedish Foundation of Knowledge and Competence Development. This foundation was established in 1994 by the Swedish government and was endowed with over $450 million to promote the use of information technology (IT), to stimulate research in new areas at universities and to create knowledge transfer. Over $100 million of these funds are being invested in primary and secondary schools. The goal is to obtain concrete results and spread these results to the entire educational system to create a long-term ripple effect. Ethics and the Internet has developed into a special project area among the Foundation school project, and the students at Fredriksdal's School have become pioneers in this field. I am proud to say that our project "Ethics and the Internet" is one of the projects in this program that have attracted the most attention. Our idea of combining traditional and eternal ethical issues with modern technology has been viewed as surprising, exiting and interesting. Today I am working full time for the Foundation, trying to share my ideas and experiences with other schools.

Internet: the ethical marketplace

New technology always challenges our ethical views and the Internet is certainly no exception. This does not necessarily mean that we need to create new ethical opinions -- our old system of ethics is still valid -- but perhaps we need to re-express and reformulate our common foundational values, and apply our conclusions to this new area that the Internet has created.

The overall aim of the project "Ethics & Internet -- soft issues & hard wares" is to develop pedagogical methods that will make it possible for questions of democracy, humanism and ethical values to find their place in a modern school. The appearance of the Internet just gives us one more reason to take these issues seriously. As a teacher I have a responsibility not only to transmit facts, but also to help the students in their emotional development and their growth into social maturity. I think that the way to understand oneself, society and the world we live in arises from a combination of theoretical knowledge, emotional ability, social maturity and ethical awareness. That's why we must involve both the brain and the heart in our considerations and try to pay attention to all of these aspects in our pedagogical plans.

I think that the best way to stimulate these ambitions is to bring the students face to face with ethical standpoints and let them take part of the debate. During this process we have found that the best way of getting in contact with all kinds of opinions is to use the Internet! In a few years the Internet has grown to become the main meeting place for ethical discussion. The Internet is the ethical marketplace where every kind of opinion, attitude and view can be found. This means that at the same time as the Internet challenges our ethical viewpoints, it offers us a superior tool for developing methods that will stimulate our ethical education.

Soft issues and hard wares

In the most concrete part of the project we let the pupils chose an ethical question that they are interested and engaged in. It could be anything from abortion to euthanasia, from child labor to animals rights, from weapon export to genetic engineering, etc.

The student's task is to produce a report based on seven given subheadings...

If, for example, the students are interested in the issue of child labor they may want to visit the homepage of UNICEF; if they have chosen to study the death penalty a visit to Amnesty International's homepage could be interesting; and if they engaged in environmental issues perhaps Greenpeace could offer one point of view. To help the students we have established a collection of links that will connect them to the ethical debate in a number of areas. This link collection is dynamic and new useful sites found by the students are immediately added to the list.

Their report becomes one chapter in an ethical book that every class produces, and this book will be the basis for a debate that takes place in the classroom. Our experience is that whatever ethical issue the students choose to study, the Internet offers them facts and opinions in seemingly endless ways.

The eight targets

We have formulated eight targets that we hope that our project will help the students achieve:

  1. Ethical awareness -- The students will be aware that life contains a vast number of ethical issues that sometimes demand personal decisions and selections.
  2. Computer competence -- more a side effect than a goal; it is interesting to see how the Internet has changed the role of the computer from being a closed room to being the door to the outside world.
  3. Pedagogical progression -- Optimal learning ability is reached when the students are searching for answers to questions that have been formulated by themselves. Establishing this pedagogical situation in the classroom is critical.
  4. Increased international perspective -- The Internet has no geographical borders.
  5. Awareness of the necessity of languages -- The need to study English goes beyond the next English exam.
  6. Social maturity- - Developing maturity requires tasks that demand maturity.
  7. Emotional intelligence -- Information is not equivalent to knowledge - and knowledge is definitely not equivalent to wisdom.
  8. Increased equality -- We must offer reasons for both the girls and the boys to sit down at the computer. Ethical issues on the Internet are an example of such a good reason.

The answer to its own question

Our experience tells us that if ethical issues will show the way to Internet, the attitude and knowledge the students receive will follow them throughout their future use of Internet. This is an important and very positive effect. It is crucial for Internet users to develop their ability to be critical of the opinions and attitudes behind the information they have researched. It has been our experience that the students learn to be more critical of their sources if they are allowed to work this way. If the students use the Internet when they are reflecting on ethical issues, they will achieve a new awareness through the information provided. The pupils will learn that the Internet is a medium providing subjective information which needs to be carefully reviewed. That is why we have come to this simple but perhaps slightly paradoxical and surprising conclusion that the solution to the ethical problems of the Internet is the positive use of it. The Internet is the answer to its own ethical question.

Protection and preparation

So far I have only described the Internet as an ethical possibility. But you cannot avoid the fact that the Internet also contains information that is definitely dubious from an ethical point of view. Just a mouse-click away from a good and useful site, you can find another site that shares disinformation or even destructive material.

As far as I can see there are only two ways to protect children from the Internet's dark side: isolation or vaccination, the same methods that we have at our disposal in the face of approaching disease. Both methods offer protection, but the problem with isolation is that its effects are not lasting. Vaccination, however, allows the disease to be faced without getting infected. There is just one problem left to solve -- developing the vaccine! I consider the development methods to vaccinate our teenagers against the different destructive components in the information society to be one of the most important questions that a modern school has to handle. We hope that our project in some way will contribute useful ideas.

I think that it is a good idea to compare a good attitude toward the Internet with a good attitude toward deep water. When our children are small, we bring them carefully to the quay or the riverside. We hold their hand firmly, show them the deep water and tell them about its danger. After some years they begin to develop their own awareness. We can let them go on their own, but we still follow them with watchful eyes. Likewise, we put our children into swimming lessons. The best way of protecting our children from the danger of deep water is to teach them to swim. The water will be used as a pedagogical tool to solve its own problem. You can look upon our project analogously. We use the Internet in our ethical education in the same way a good swimming teacher uses the water in his swimming education. It seems like a good idea, doesn't it? Sitting on the beach and learning how to swim will be boring after a while.

The three levels

Even recognizing cultural differences, there is content on the Internet that most people would consider questionable for children. What options do we have for addressing this problem?

Is censorship or filtering a good way of dealing with this problems, or will it just cause us to naively lean back and shirk our responsibilities?

From my point of view you can find three levels in this debate. The first one is censorship and different kinds of technical filtering, the second one is about developing AUPs (Acceptable Use Policies) and the third level talks about how to give proper guidance and ethical education.

Together with the introduction of the Internet into the school system, a heated debate has risen about its dark side. The debate has swung between impassioned cries for censorship and a rather naive lightheartedness. Whatever stand one takes on this issue, I think it is very important to realize that there are no fences, in the form of a censor or filtering programs, that can offer us a degree of protection that frees us from responsibility. Indeed, perhaps the fences just cause us to naively lean back and shirk our responsibilities. There is also cause for concern in the long run when one considers the students' views of their own roles in the question of personal accountability.

My cynicism toward technical filters is not based solely on principles. I'm concerned about their effects from a wider perspective. Above all, I am worried because they lead to passiveness and a reduction in culpability for one's own behavior. The adult world's obligation to oversee ethical and social development of the next generation cannot be delegated to technology. The answers to ethical questions seldom lie in technical solutions.

Besides, if we equip our children with too many bike helmets, kneepads, lifejackets, parachutes, airbags, chastity belts, and all kinds of safety nets, there is of course a chance that we will forget to tell them that life is dangerous. Our good intentions can lead to a shift in accountability away from the individual toward the safety net system.

The day will come when our children leave the protection of the home and school environment. Outside waits a rough world full of temptations and pitfalls. If our children meet this world without having developed the necessary tools and awareness, they will be very vulnerable.

The question is not which ethical filters we can install in the computers, but rather which ethical filters we can install in the students.

New technology necessitate ethical guidance

As a teacher I have a responsibility not only to put ethical discussions on the agenda, but also to give ethical guidance. There are components in a democracy that are so fundamental that they should not only be discussed -- they should be transmitted. Experience has shown that many young people view the adult world as unclear and lacking when it comes to providing the guidance they need. Has the school failed to live up to its responsibility of providing guidance concerning the ideals that make up our democratic society? I believe that the development of the Internet necessitates that ethical issues must be given greater consideration. Developing methods that will make this mission possible and successful is one of the most important tasks for a school today. Our experience tells us that the use of new technology can be one of the pieces in this very important puzzle. The Internet could be the solution to its own problem, the answer to its own question.