Wendy Stueck’s article “B.C. Parents with WiFi Health Fears Vote to Limit School Networks” in the Globe and Mail, states that the raised concerns of parents are affecting the choices of technology use in the B.C. classrooms. While there is no report of changes being implemented, the possible risks are leading to investigations, studies and discussion of the possibility of such changes taking place. Overall, it seems these parents would like WiFi to be eliminated from the schools, but due the impracticality of such a request, they request that it be ‘limited’.
My main issue with this request is its ridiculousness. I am not educated enough to know whether it poses these potential risks, but am educated enough to know that the idea keeping a child from these risks will be unsuccessful. Any parent trying to keep their kid away from WiFi will have to avoid most homes, stores, offices, buildings in general. Even some transit!
The number of parents raising this concern is not specified, and neither is the extent to the ‘limitation’ they are asking for from the schools. However, it is clearly enough to raise the concern to the level of publicity and to have the school boards taking it under such serious consideration. The same concern was raised in Ontario as well, on the Catholic School Board, but as the Globe and Mail has previously reported: McGuinty sided with Health Canada and believes that there is no risk to the students in these schools. However, the World Health Organization has warned of the possibility in the radiation of wireless leading to cancer.
Like I said, I’m not an expert, but I still don’t believe that turning WiFi off in schools is the answer. Technology is meant to advance and not take steps backward. If it truly does pose a health risk of course there needs to be a solution and not just in schools but everywhere. However, going back to connecting through cables is going to negatively impact industry, culture and ultimately the academics of students.
There would not even be the option for many enhanced ebooks or apps in the classroom if wireless was taken away completely.
In more recent news parents have opted for new solutions:
Two resolutions regarding wireless networks were debated and passed at the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils’s annual general meeting last week. One asked school boards to stop installing Wi-Fi in schools when other options are available. The second calls on districts to have one school at each level (elementary, middle, high school) free of wireless technologies.
The first solution is one the one that I prefer. This option allows for patience and advancement while the second does not. The second resolution offers possibilities to only some students and teachers and not to others. It allows some teachers to interact with enhance e-books or ‘Blackboard’ while other cannot. Ultimately the education of these students is up to their parents but the concern originates in parents looking out for the best interest of their children and taking their kids out of these schools is not only a decision on the access to WiFi, but all the technology that goes along with it. The school-board chairman agrees with this concern and reiterates that it is not even universally proven that WiFi will be harmful to students.
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