目前，美国纽约州罗姆市天主教中学的部分学生们正在通过学习一项飞行员计划，以使自己成为互联网空间的未来保护者，这在美国上属首次。
据美联社3月12日报道，根据这项计划，教师向学生讲授数据保护、计算机网络协议、弱点和辩论学、防火墙、信息伪装、网络基础和无线安全等。更重要的是，教师们还在课堂上与学生讨论与互联网安全相关的道德准则与法规。该校校长克里斯托弗·莫米尼说，尽管现在的年轻人比前辈更懂计算机知识，但他们往往喜欢搞些高科技恶作剧，安排这一学习计划的目的就是将年轻人天生的好奇心引上正轨。
纽约州锡拉丘兹大学工程与计算机学科项目负责人斯皮纳强调说，尽管计算机课程在美国中学里普遍开设，但“（信息安全课程）不仅是一项改进，而且是上了一个新台阶”。斯皮纳曾参与美国空军飞行员的培训工作。本次开设的信息安全课程是由位于罗姆市的美国空军研究实验室的电脑专家参与设计的。2002年，该实验室曾为美军后备军官训练团开设了一项为期10周的信息安全培训课程。该实验室的首席电脑工程师卡迈勤·雅布尔说：“按这项计划，除了教给年轻人如何保护信息安全外，还将拓展他们的想象力，激励他们学习相关知识并投身信息安全事业。”
雅布尔透露，这项计划将从2007年起在整个纽约州中学推广。如果顺利的话，2008年可能推广到全国所有中学。
A group of students at Rome Catholic School are
learning how to become the future defenders of cyberspace through a pilot
program that officials say is the first of its kind in the country.
The program teaches students about data protection,
computer network protocols and vulnerabilities, security, firewalls and
forensics, data hiding, and infrastructure and wireless security.
Most importantly, officials said, teachers discuss
ethical and legal considerations in cyber security.
"It's a great course. It's a littler harder than I
expected," said Catherine Gudaitis, a junior interested in theater. "But I know
in the world I'm going to live in, this will be necessary information, even
common knowledge."
President Bush made cyber security a focal point in
February 2003 in his National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, citing the
importance of safeguarding America from crippling internet-based attacks by
terrorists against U.S. power grids, airports and other targets.
The pilot program was developed with help from
computer experts at the U.S. Air Force's Research Lab in Rome, who four years
ago created a 10-week Advanced Course in Engineering Cyber Security Boot Camp
for the military's Reserve Officers Training Corps, said Kamal Jabbour, the
lab's principal computer engineer.
"Besides teaching teenagers to protect their digital
assets, the course opens their imagination to the challenges in cyberspace, and
seeks to excite them into a college education in computer engineering and a
professional career in cyber security," Jabbour said.
While computer courses are commonplace in American
schools, the Rome program "is not just a little different. This is a step
change," said Eric Spina, dean of Syracuse University's engineering and computer
science programs, which also helped with the pilot's development.
Spina said the material covered in the course is
subject matter that college students -- even engineering and computer science
majors -- typically don't receive until their junior year.
"A high school student with this kind of background
would be an asset anywhere they went," Spina said.
Although young people are more technologically savvy
than ever, they too frequently dabble in high-tech mischief. Rome's program is
an effort to rechannel that native interest, said Principal Christopher Mominey.
Thirteen students are enrolled in the 20-week
elective course, which began with the start of the current semester Jan. 31. The
class meets for 45 minutes after school four days a week, with two of the
sessions devoted to lab time, said Ed Nickerson, one of three teachers who
designed the curriculum.
With financial support from Rome Lab and Syracuse
University, the school transformed a one-time home economics classroom into a
12-station wireless computer lab.
Nickerson said the students -- sophomores, juniors
and seniors -- represent a wide spectrum of both academic ability and computer
know-how. The school has approximately 400 students grades kindergarten through
12th, and a senior class this year of 18.
The curriculum will be offered statewide beginning
next year. On Friday, several dozen administrators and educators attended a
workshop at the Rome school as an introduction. A weeklong course will be
offered in August to prepare high school teachers to teach cyber security. If
successful, the program could be offered nationwide in 2008, Jabbour said.
（何晓鸿）
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