The attitude to parenting in Tanzania is often referred to as ‘Mtu ni Watu‘ which translates as ‘A Man is People’ (often interpreted as ‘It takes a village to raise a child’). Children’s needs are not the sole responsibility of the parent. It is expected that the community is always able to help out. When a child is tired, hungry, bored or upset, passers by entertain children, offer snacks and drinks and greet parents with messages of reassurance and friendship. As a parent raising a young child in Tanzania this approach was refreshing and appreciated. Raising children is a shared responsibility.
I think the same attitude of ‘Mtu ni Watu’ is needed in the approach of teaching students how to be responsible digital citizens. Whilst I appreciate that being a responsible citizen is the same thing, it is important to identify specific situations for how to be a responsible digital citizen. Valerie Strauss’ article ‘Teaching kids to be ‘digital citizens‘ (not just ‘digital natives’) discusses why it is important to help students be safe and responsible online.
That’s more true now because today’s technologies have unprecedented power to harm, as we have seen in documented cases of cyber-bullying and harassment.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/teaching-kids-to-be-digital-citizens-not-just-digital-natives/2012/03/04/gIQALdFiqR_blog.htm
One of the ways schools can initiate the involvement of parents in raising responsible digital citizens is by holding parent workshops. This gives parents the opportunity to become more aware of what schools are doing and how they can also support their child in being a responsible digital citizen. Mike Ribble explains the importance of involving parents and using the same terminology to help students understand digital citizenship.
Do we have a “common language” that we can use to talk to students and parents about appropriate technology behavior?
https://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/LL2008DCArt.pdf
With this ‘common language’ parents are then able to reinforce the same message at home that is encouraged in schools. Parents’ views on technology vary widely from no regulations to no technology. I believe there is a happy medium on this spectrum and that with an open dialogue and knowledge about potential problems students can manage their use of technology well wherever they are.
Another way that schools can support students to be responsible digital citizens is by educating all teachers about the uses of and dangers for children using technology. Awareness and knowledge about digital citizenship are essential for all teachers so that any problems that may arise are recognised and dealt with appropriately.
My Grade 2 class have recently completed their Common Sense Digital Citizenship work in Information Literacy lessons. I thought I’d see what they had learnt. I was inspired by @traintheteacher in the blog post ‘Back Channelling in the Primary Classroom‘ and used TodaysMeet to record their reflections.
It seems our village is on the right track.
“It takes a village to raise a child.” I have heard this 20 and some years ago. The characteristic of the community are: communication, sharing responsibility, openness to learn/or to help each other growth. I am come from Asian community, very oriented so I know how important it is to raise a child in a community.
Thanks for this article. This article or this saying is only can apply to Asian community I know.