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Noxontown News, Vol.
2, No. 2 A Fortnightly Newsletter for St. Andrew's Parents (See links to updated St. Andrew’s news stories below.) January 26, 2006 Dear Parents, I hope this email finds you and your families doing well. After a strong and busy month of January,
St. Andrew’s now enjoys a long weekend, a time for students to rest up a bit
after exams and a time for the faculty to grade those blue books and prepare
for the second semester. We have a lot to look forward to as we gear up for the new semester. St. Andrew’s continues to cultivate a deep
engagement in the life of the mind and the life of our democracy. Over the next few months, the School will
offer dynamic educational opportunities and lectures on a variety of exciting
and important topics. In February, St.
Andrew’s presents the Crump Physics Lecture—our speaker this year will be
author of "Einstein's Dreams" and MIT physicist, Alan Lightman. On
February 15, the School will make its bi-annual visit to Over the last few weeks, newspapers, magazines, schools and
colleges have begun to study and analyze the latest manifestation of our
technology culture—the development of Web sites such as Facebook.com and
Myspace.com. St. Andrew’s is in the process
of a review of the implication and potential danger of such sites, and on
Sunday evening here at School I will share a few observations on the general
issue of personal Internet sites with our students. Such conversations have already occurred in
the context of our residential program as we have sought to educate students
about the issues involved in such Web site creation and development. We believe that one of our most important roles as teachers is
to educate our students about the appropriate use of technology in their
lives. As an admirer and reader of the
works of the late Neil Postman, I view all forms of technology through his
brilliant perspective. He taught his
readers that while technology promises and delivers on a number of amazing and
essential accomplishments, it also has the capacity to distort and disrupt
the lives of communities and individuals.
The development of Web sites like Myspace.com or Facebook.com began, I
suppose, with a noble purpose.
Students in college and high school now can network with one another,
communicate with one another, even find long lost
friends from nursery school and elementary school, all at the click of a
button. But, as Michael Bugeja, Director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and
Communication at A trustee of St. Andrew’s gave me the best metaphor to
describe student use of Facebook.com or Myspace.com—he said the kids and
parents need to know that the use of such sites is exactly like a
tattoo. Everything our students write,
everything your children write about themselves will be saved—forever, even
if he/she thinks better of an initial comment and deletes it from the
site. Parents and students need to
know that employers now routinely check Facebook.com or Myspace.com as they
are making hiring decisions. And,
students at high schools and colleges across the country have faced
disciplinary and legal proceedings following the discovery of illegal
activity described on the Web sites. The other major area of concern raised by such sites, of
course, has to do with issues of privacy and security. What parents and schools need to emphasize
all the time is that the information we choose to place in a public domain,
the people we choose to communicate with, the access we give to strangers matter. Students
can compromise their safety and privacy so easily when they operate in the
bubble of the Internet. So, our job as parents and teachers is to educate our students
about the realities of life in the era of technology. At one level, I am sick at heart that an
entire new generation must confront the danger of allowing technology to turn
them into zombies who, in Postman’s phrase, “amuse themselves to death.” At another level, we have to teach our
students and children what is appropriate and safe for them to do and to
share when they are on-line. St.
Andrew’s is dedicated to working with parents to address these important
concerns. Please feel free to join this conversation with me. Sincerely, Tad Roach headmaster@standrews-de.org * * * ATTENTION * * * This is the last week we will send Noxontown
News to parents via our old e-mail list. This publication will be sent
directly to the parents signed up at the new parent Web site, beginning with
our next edition. If you are not signed up at the site, you will not receive
this e-mail update in the future. To register at the parent Web site, please
visit the site's registration page:
http://parents.standrews-de.org/general/register_member_type.asp Questions? E-mail parents@standrews-de.org or call Sandy
Bailey at 302/285-4257. * * * St. Andrew's News On-Line * * * * NEW trip
to Honduras in August announced! The service trip to * Vegetable
oil powered bus will slide onto campus * Chapel
Talk: Sarah Bowers '00 * January News from the Irene
duPont Library now on-line * Calendar and travel information It's Long Weekend. Travel information and the calendar for the
first week of the new session, January 29-February 2, 2006, are available at the
parent Web site: Click on
"Classes & Groups" in the left-hand menu, select
"Parents" and then select any of the parent group pages. Questions?
E-mail parents@standrews-de.org
* * * Every One Counts – 2005-2006 Annual Fund Did you know that the full St. Andrew’s tuition of $33,000
falls more than $17,000 short of the actual cost of a St. Andrew’s education?
This year, St. Andrew’s will spend over $50,000 to educate each child on our
campus. We hope you will consider a gift to St. Andrew’s Annual Fund to
show your support for a great school. * * * School to host " ON-LINE
RESOURCES FOR PARENTS - Winter St. Andrew's
Magazine is in the mail AND on-line The winter issue of the St. Andrew's Magazine is in the mail
to parents! If you'd like to read the new issue, or a back issue of this
publication, the Irene duPont Library has begun an archive
of St. Andrew’s Magazine on-line, starting with the fall edition for
2001, through the winter 2006 issue: Previous editions of this on-line publication, Noxontown News, are also available. - Winter
sports rosters and schedules on-line. - 2005-2006
School year calendar. |