Teen Checkup | Internet Safety

New Program Takes Direct Aim at Dropout Rate

Our high school students need help. For some reason teenagers think it’s okay to dropout of high school. So much in fact, the high school drop rate in this country has become alarmingly high; 1 in 4 on average, and as high as 1 in 3 among african americans and hispanics.

Fortunately, our government is stepping in at a time when students need it most. New federal rules were introduced this week that will require high schools to improve their dropout rates for specific demographic groups. These new rules are an extension of the “No Child Left Behind” act which targets school success for kids grades 3 through 8.

Under this new extension, schools must track dropout rates by demographic groups such as age, race, socio-economic background, and special needs. If the government sees no improvement from a specific school, some of their government funding will slowly start to disappear. Not a good situation, especially for schools in economically depressed areas.

It’s about time our government extend the No Child Left Behind program to high school grades. What was the logic behind leaving them out to begin with? Teenagers are our future. We need to keep them in school, and if holding the schools accountable is the only way to do it - then so be it. Personally, I’d like to hold parents accountable too, but I’ll save that rant for another day.

I’m still curious about this whole dropout trend though. Why would teenagers even want to leave school? It means that actually have to start working and paying bills. That’s not fun at all.

Kids, stay in school. Believe me, it’s a better place than the real world.

This post was written by: Erin

Tags: economic background, high school dropout, No Child Left Behind, part-time job, workforce

Get Paid to Shop!

As we all sit and watch the stock market zig-zag on Wall Street, let us all take stock in knowing there are ways we can ALL make an extra buck. I’m not talking about taking a second job here. I’m talking about easy money.

In my zeal to lock down a few money-making ideas, I came across a valuable website. It’s called Teen Money Making Ideas. It’s informative and geared for everyone, not just teens.

So let this be the first in a series of money making ideas I will post regularily. Parents, I won’t leave you out of the mix here either. All of these ideas will be for both adults and teenagers.

Today, I’ll begin with mystery shopping.

First, what is it?

Mystery shopping is a tool used by market research companies to measure of quality of service or to gather specific product information. In a nutshell, it means you can get paid to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch .

So where can you sign up?

First, you should register with as many ”mystery shopping” companies as you can. The more companies you register with the better the odds you’ll get plum assignments.

Here are are few companies that’ll steer you in the right direction.

• SecretShopper.com - They’ve been around for nearly two decades. No experience required. Expect $12 - $25 per job, sometimes more.
• AboutFaceCorp.com - They require you to have regular access to a computer and reliable transportation. Projects also include restaurants, hotels and grocery stores.
• Marketviewpoint.com - Their pay rate varies between $10 and $100 per job, depending what is involved in the assignment.
• ServiceSolutionSI.com - They are perfect for sports fans. They’ll send you to sporting events as well as retail stores. But be prepared to write. They like their reports sent in the form of an objective narrative.
• Mystiqueshopper.com - They pay electronically using payPal. They also provide crucial training advice.
• ShopUntilYouDrop.com - They offer searchable mystery shopping databases with hundreds of companies. They also have a job board that is updated daily.

So what are you waiting for? Get moving - and happy shopping!

Stay tuned for more money making ideas.

This post was written by: Erin

Tags: Abercrombie, money making idea, mystery shopper, teen money making ideas, teen shoppers

Success Story: Entrepreneurial Teens

Teen-run businesses are taking off.  Some as young as 12-years-old own e-commerce sites and retail stores.

The Nashua Telegraph recently wrote about Josh Heinzl, a teenager who opened a toy store in Pheasant Lane Mall in New Hampshire. Turns out he got the idea of opening a toy store after the success of his online Lego store - which, according to the Telegraph, brought in $250,000 in its first three years of operation.

Yes, he did get a little financial help from her parent. But if it wasn’t for his entrepreneurial spirit, Josh would still be at home playing with his Xbox. Now, Josh hires and fires adults some 20 years older than him.

Before you start calling Josh an over-achiever, just read some of these statistics. Josh is certainly not alone in quest to make money.

In a 2007 survey by Junior Achievement

• 66% of US teenagers said they would like to start their own business one day.
• 20% of 13-19-year-olds said they wanted to be their own boss.

The Junior Achievement has also teamed up with the Small Business Administration to help foster these entrepreneurial minds. They’ve created a website called “Mind Your Own Business.” The site offers business ideas, teaches management and planning, and walks young entrepreneurs through the “five steps” of business ownership.

As we live in this economically-depressed world, it’s nice to see kids going places. We should all tag along.

This post was written by: Erin

Tags: e-commerce, Internet business, teen-run business, toy store

Iowa Loses Battle Against Cell Phones

Iowa schools have given in to the cell phone.

The Iowa public school system has decided to let cell phones back on campus, allowing students to make calls during lunch and between classes. School officials said they were fighting a losing battle when they mandated that cell phones shouldn’t be seen or heard during school hours.

Now as kids walk around with their fingers idling texting or their phones ringing to the tune of The Hills, Iowa parents feel these cell phones will become a distraction or, worse, a tool to promote cyber fighting. You know all of those school brawls that are posted on YouTube? Most of them were filmed with a cell phone.

But wait. Experts say the use of cell phones in schools might be a good thing.

Researchers predict U.S. students soon will use cell phones to photograph field trips, search the Internet and answer classroom polls via text message, among other things. In fact, Chinese schools are already experimenting with cell phones as learning tools.

Honestly, I don’t know whether to shun or embrace this new idea. My philosophy is you give kids an inch and they’ll take a mile. Hence, you give kids a cell phone and they’ll abuse it. Yes, there will be some students who responsibly turn it off during class. But there will also be a few rotten apples who feel the need to use their wireless technology to cheat.

Teens are cunning. We can’t underestimate them. I urge adults and schools across the country to tread cautiously if they decide to allow cell phones in the classroom.

It could be a recipe for success - or disaster. Only time will tell I guess.

This post was written by: Erin

Tags: cell phones, high school campus, Iowa public schools, wireless technology

Teens a Prime Target for Sex Offenders

The danger involving Internet predators is no longer an adolescent issue - it’s a teen issue. In a big way.

According to the American Psychological Association, teenagers are prime targets for middle-aged adult men. What’s surprising, however, is that in many cases these predators don’t even lie about their age or about wanting sex. They are so brazen, so bold - they think they can lure their victims by being honest and “sincere.”

This tactic is working too!

Researchers say it’s because teens are attracted to attention, affection, excitement and romance. Sex offenders take advantage of this behavior, often working slowly to develop trust with their young victims.

What’s even more interesting is that researchers say that teen boys who are gay or are questioning their sexuality may be at higher risk of being victimized on the Internet.

Parents, before you sink into deep despair. There is a bit of good new here.

First, researchers feel that social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook do not increase the risk of victimization.

Second, invesigators have identified several behaviors that make teens more likely to receive sexual contact from predators. They include:

• Placing people they don’t know on their instant messaging buddy list
• Talking about sex online with strangers
• Engaging in rude or nasty chats online

Teens are not immortal. They need to protect themselves - pronto!

Be smart. Surf the web responsibly.

This post was written by: Erin

Tags: homosexuality, honesty tactic, Internet Predators, sexual victims

Your Teen Writer Could Be A Winner

Do you have a teen writer in your life?  A new contest through the online magazine Go is sponsoring a new contest for teen writers. Here’s the skinny:

Go, an online magazine for teens, is published by Iowa State University’s Center for Transportation Research and Education.

Submissions to the contest should address some aspect of transportation and be appropriate for teens and young adults.
The goal is to encourage writers and readers to think about how integral transportation is to everyday lives. Submissions should be targeted to readers ages 14 to 20.

This looks like a great way for teens to flex their mental muscle, while - at the same time- learning more about the need to transform the way we get around given the economic and environmental stress we are experiencing nowadays.

If this looks like the kind of thing a teen in your life might be interested in, please direct them to this .pdf form that explains the contest in detail.

This post was written by: Joe Nolan

Tags: Contest, teen writers, transportation

Teens Tattoo You

Since 1994, The Tattoo has offered the best teen journalism in the world. Written by teens, The Tattoo has racked up scores of journalism awards by taking on tough issues and letting teens show the world their talent.

That’s what you read at the top of The Tattoo’s homepage when you visit the popular by-teens-for-teens blog.

This online publication is really special. For instance, the current issue has two features. The first features a story about a jazz improvisation class that is giving one high school the most important music reputation in the country. In another piece a young Chinese writer describes life in a Chinese military camp.

If you’ve kept up with my posts, you know that I am totally enamored of great teen writers online, and this site is full of them.

Five stars for sure!

This post was written by: Joe Nolan

Tags: China, teen writers, the tattoo

Techie Teens Plug Into Sleepless Nights

Is your teen tired?

Many of us consider a tired teen to be a normal teen. I remember when I was a teen, I was tired a lot of the time - especially at school.

It’s tough to be a teen. In addition to school and extra-curricular activities, many teens also work. And - lets not forget - many teens are going through periods of unprecedented growth, their bodies literally transforming before our - and their - eyes. Mix in a dizzying array of new experiences and responsibilities, the first stirrings of an adult personal-identity, and a crushing onslaught of social tensions, and you’d be worn out too.

But if they’re so tired what’s keeping your kids up at night?

A new study has linked high tech gadgets like cell phones, video games and Mp3 players to instances of insomnia in teen populations. Check this out:

One study found students with four or more electronic entertainment devices in their bedrooms are twice as likely to fall asleep in school or while studying, Dr. Avitzur says. (Some 97% of U.S. teens have at least one high-tech gadget in their bedrooms.) Fatigue isn’t the only consequence: Otherwise healthy teens who sleep poorly are at much higher risk of developing high blood pressure, a significant health risk. It’s time, Dr. Avitzur writes, for parents “to have a serious sleep talk with our kids.

Read the entire article here, and find out how a little shut-eye might go a long way toward helping your teens be happy and healthy.

This post was written by: Joe Nolan

Tags: insomnia, mp3 player, teen sleep disorders

Girls Turn On to Tube Converting

No, no, no, it’s not some odd sexual rite or a new way to take drugs…

Tube converting is the newest wrinkle in the ongoing co-evolution between teens and illegal-music-downloading. Unlike the original peer-to-peer platforms, tube converting offers a much safer way to download tunes, with litte risk of viral infections etc. However, just like most free music downloading, tube converting is an illegal method for procuring copyrighted material.

The name “tube converting” is a reference to the ubiquitous - and awesome - YouTube. TC is a process where a user will convert a YouTube video for a song, into an audio track that can be saved directly to a hard drive, and Mp3 player or a storage device.

Find out more about teens and tube converting on this Internet site for ‘tween girls.

This post was written by: Joe Nolan

Tags: Mp3, tube converting, tween

Dr. Phil vs The Cyberbullies

I have no idea what the readers of these posts think about Dr. Phil. When it comes to the good doctor, I don’t think much, nor often. No offense, I’m just not that interested in popular psychology. In the meantime, wishin’ you the best, Dr. Phil.

I bring this up because Dr. Phil has recently been discussing some of the subjects we cover here on the site. Just this week, he did a report on bullying. A good portion of the program tackled the way traditional play-ground-style intimidation has turned into the kind of relentless taunting that can only be accomplished through instant messages, on cellphones, and over the world wide web.

The best of the Dr.’s cyberbullying insights came from victims themselves. We can only assume that these were extreme examples, designed to add drama to a show that always seems precariously balanced on the edge of the exploitative, but the interviewees’ testimonies were also quite moving:

…17-year-old Austyn says a close friend turned on her, hacked into her MySpace account and reformatted the page to say that Austyn is a “slut,” a “sag” and a “butter face.” Austyn says she now has a bad reputation at school and shows Dr. Phil producers a typical day in her life. What can the teen do to empower herself? And, Lanie was a 14-year-old cheerleader who was excited about life, but all that changed after she says she posted an innocent comment on a boy’s MySpace page. She says she was beaten with brass knuckles by another girl and had to have a steel plate implated under her right eye.

Read the rest of this recap at Gather.com.

This post was written by: Joe Nolan

Tags: brass knuckles, cyberbully, Dr. Phil