I read yesterday that grade schools in Virginia have started teaching classes on Internet safety to children and their parents who often don’t have a practical understanding of the technologies their children are even using.

That’s awesome!

I know that if you look at the numbers there isn’t a greater risk from predators to children online than there is in the real world, heck I’ve even supported that argument in fighting against dumb and censoring legislation attempts, but I also think that just because the risk isn’t higher that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t acknowledge it at all, or that we can’t take smart steps toward reducing it further.

Education is the perfect way to combat risk. That’s true with most things. The majority of people who have problems or end up in dangerous situations do so because they were unaware.

If you walk into an unknown situation, and you’re unaware of the dangers and consequences inherent to that situation, you’re bound to end up in trouble.

And since children are getting online at very early ages, and spending more time online as a whole with each passing month, giving them sound guidance and understanding of the environment is not only practical but seems like the moral thing to do if you care at all about kids.

I also read that Texas and Illinois are planning to start similar classes soon too. It’s a sad day (for this Yankee) when Texas is on the leading edge so I hope the rest of the country will begin adopting this common sense approach very soon. Let’s all put that “To Catch A Predator” show off the air by removing the easy victims.

SPECIAL NOTE: I actually love Texas, just poking fun at friends and family I have there with my comments ;)

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