In my experience as a parent, a public school educator with 25 years of service, and author of Cybersecurity Basics: A Short Guide to Staying Safe Online, K-12 schools generally don’t do much to help their students learn cybersecurity basics.
Some systems have “digital citizenship” programs that incorporate very rudimentary cybersecurity content, but what I’ve seen really doesn’t do anything but scratch the surface.
Teaching kids what they need to be as safe as possible online shouldn’t just be up to schools. Parents have to educate themselves and take responsibility for helping their children navigate life online.
As a parent or guardian, if you’re not sure you have strong cybersecurity skills, it’s not very likely your kids have those skills, either. If you think they’re learning about cybersecurity at school you might want to contact teachers, principals or central office administrators to find out if that’s true.
I think this recent article from PCMAG is a great place to start for parents and guardians concerned with strengthening their kids’ cybersecurity skills.
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