British Girl’s Blog: Why Make Such a Big Deal About It?

You might enjoy reading British Girl’s Blog on School Lunch Stirs it Up in the Sunday, June 17, 2012 Washington Post about a nine-year-old girl who is blogging to change the quality of food in her school lunches and to raise money for a local charity, Mary’s Meals, that feeds the hungry. The blog, Never Seconds, has become a sensation…

… because some officials decided to make an impromptu rule — the young blogger cannot take any more pictures of her school lunches.

So let me get this straight. A child or adolescent starts writing about an issue or a topic and doing it well. She offends no one as she points out that change is necessary — in fact, she writes rather respectfully while taking a stand on making the meals better. People are short-sighted enough to try to stop her?

How long will it take adults in today’s world to understand that life, 21 Century skills, and communication have fundamentally changed — people can create good-quality digital content just about anywhere. They can share it and other people can also share. Reminder to Adults: Stopping this type of creating on a mere whim doesn’t work.

The last thing to be done when one disagrees is to make impromptu rules, ban the child from writing or creating the material, or the absolute worst — suspend the child from school. (Though not, in this case, that has happened here in the United States.)

Now I am not talking about offensive or inappropriate content. Adults should   intervene when a student is disrespectful or rude, making consequence fit the offense. Children should publish apologies or do it face-to-face when they hurt others. However, adults must be aware that any steps taken will become as public as the initial blog, tweet, or other digital communication. That’s life in the 21st Century.