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A32 FEATURE
Thursday 13 June 2019

How do you teach kids about texting? Bring in the teenagers

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER them navigate the media
Associated Press and the parents aren’t of
ESSEN, Germany (AP) — any help either then how
How do you teach tech- should the children learn
savvy kids to safely navi- responsible ways with the
gate the digital world? In digital world?”
Germany, you bring in the The program is more devel-
teenagers. oped than in many other
On a recent day, 18-year- countries. In the United
old Chantal Hueben stood States, many schools have
in front of a group of fifth- not fully embraced peer-
graders and asked them to to-peer tutoring in social
brainstorm about the mes- media, says Liz Kolb, a pro-
saging program Whatsapp, fessor of education tech-
which most are using to nology at the University of
participate in a group chat Michigan.
for their class. They spoke U.S. schools are required
about themes like cyber- Senior students and media scouts Leon Zielinski, right, and Chantal Hueben teach young pupils by a federal program to
bullying and what material during a lesson in social media and internet at a comprehensive school in Essen, Germany, teach appropriate online
Monday, March 18, 2019.
is OK to post. Associated Press behavior, but that is done
“Many are not really aware man authorities decided than the personal impact. Sven Hulvershorn from the by teachers and while
yet of the impact their mes- peer education was the It was founded in 2011 by media authority agency for some schools offer peer-
sages can have on others,” best approach. public authorities in the the western German state, to-peer tutoring, it is not on
says Hueben, dressed all At Borbeck, which has western state of North who oversees the media the scale of what Germany
in black except for white about 1,000 students and Rhine-Westphalia. In Ger- scout program. “We’re not is doing.
sneakers. “We’re teach- is considered one of the many, education is man- there yet, but we’re work- “Schools are pretty much
ing them not to post any- most advanced schools in aged by the country’s 16 ing on it.” Beyond teaching figuring out their own way
thing private on the class Germany when it comes to separate states, and now children how to deal with because there really is no
chat, not to send photos teaching digital skills, there 11 of them have estab- the daily stress of digital strong mandate they have
of others and not to insult are 32 students teaching in lished similar programs in communications, experts to have a certain curricu-
anybody.” The session at the “Medienscouts,” or me- hundreds of schools. in Germany agree there’s lum or specific goals,” Kolb
the Gesamtschule Borbeck dia scouts, program. In North Rhine-Westphalia, a need to coach them in said of the U.S. “It’s defi-
high school, in the western “We’re also students, so we 766 schools have so far how to protect themselves nitely needed and schools
German city of Essen, is have this buddy and role participated in the media from online bullying, sexual are seeing that it’s needed,
part of a large-scale pro- model relationship with the scout program. More than predators or fake news. they just don’t know how to
gram in which teenagers younger kids that definitely 3,120 high school students “We first had a complete go about fitting it into the
teach their younger school- motivates them to learn have been trained as scouts ban on phones in our already tight curriculum
mates how to stay safe and from us,” Hueben says. and around 1,500 teachers school,” explained teacher they have.”
sane online. With the program, Germa- have acted as guidance Vera Servaty, who is the At Borbeck high school,
As they grow older, they ny is ahead of many other counselors to help the kids media scouts’ guidance the media scouts spend
also participate in work- countries, where “media grow up as mature cyber counselor at Borbeck high several hours teaching
shops about media copy- skills” are often taught by world citizens. “It would be school. “But the reality is the fifth graders how not
right issues or sexting, and, teachers and are more great if the media scouts that media is a central as- to let WhatsApp take over
at the end of eighth grade, about how to read or would be established at pect of the students’ lives. their lives. Beyond practi-
they take a test to get a watch news media rather every high school,” said If the school doesn’t help cal tricks, like turning off
laminated “mobile license” the setting that lets the
that allows them to use sender know if a message
their smartphones at cer- has been read, the older
tain times at school. students also talk with the
The exam includes 10 mul- fifth-graders about learning
tiple choice questions. how to take breaks from
One asks what to do when their smart phone.
somebody sends an em- After the end of Hueben’s
barrassing Snapchat photo workshop, 11-year-old Si-
of a fellow student. The an- mon Scharenberg looked
swer, of course, is to not for- relieved.
ward the picture to others. He said he often felt over-
Over two-thirds of kids whelmed by the hundreds
in Germany have smart- of WhatsApp messages he
phones by the age of 11 receives every day, most
and, like children around of them from schoolmates
the world, many are in the class group chat. He
stressed by the huge num- felt obliged to follow up on
ber of messages they re- all of them out of fear of
ceive and don’t know missing important informa-
how to handle inappropri- tion about homework or
ate and hurtful posts. With school activities.
many parents and teach- After the WhatsApp work-
ers lacking in digital skills shop, Scharenberg said
and unable to relate to he felt more confident
what it means to grow up Pupils attend a lesson in social media and internet behind a sign reading “WhatsApp Stress” at a about taking a break from
with a smartphone, Ger- comprehensive school in Essen, Germany, Monday, March 18, 2019. messaging.q
Associated Press