Beal City Suggests Blocking MySpace

By: John Morelli
Edited by: Erin Hillard and Mariah Richards

In a recent letter to concerned parents, Beal City Public Schools suggests monitoring their children’s internet usage and blocking websites such as MySpace.com.

In the letter, BCPS describes many of the benefits of MySpace.com and similar websites, including how it “connects friends and helps to discover popular culture.”

"When I was at Beal, they blocked all email and social networking sites and we hated them for it,” former student Mariah Richards said. “It caused us to fumble through those things at university.”

According to the BCPS letter, 61% of teenagers use a website such as MySpace.com, Facebook.com, or other websites which allow for a personalized profile.

The letter also warns of the potential dangers of similar websites and explains how parents can keep their children from having a MySpace.com page.

According to the letter, there is a hyperlink at the bottom of every Myspace.com page which provides parents with further safety tips.

The school district also provided parents with a list of eight other websites which help parents protect their children from other dangers of the internet.

“I support websites like MySpace,” senior Mark Andersen said. “It definitely helps me out when it comes to communicating with my friends and hearing new music.”