When Public Schools Become Big Brother
Kids today, well… it seems as though some are having a hard time using social media properly. Which is understandable since there are actual parents and adults out there who are also abusing it.
But one Connecticut town is stepping over a huge line. In my opinion of course. The Wallingford, Connecticut Board of Education has put a proposal on the table that would monitor the usage of student’s social media outlets outside of school.
Which I find to be a double edged sword.
On one hand, if it is being used for harassment or bullying, or impacting their in school performance (as in using it during school hours or in school) it is the right of the school to step in with some kind ofproper punishment. But once those students step outside of the building they become the responsibility of their parents.
While I don’t think that students should be bashing teachers or posing threats online. I also find it to be completely natural and normal to complain about school.WE ALL DID IT! Go back to your years in high school. How many times did you insist a teacher sucked because of a test you may not have done well on? Or you may not have meshed with a teacher personally. It happens. These are all normal parts of school for children.
But here is what pisses me off.
Not only does it strip the freedom of speech from these students, but it also can and most likely will turn into discipline for actions the school has no business stepping in on.
I would be livid if I found out my son’s schools were acting as “big brother” and following their every move online. It is a violation of privacy and rights.
While social media and the internet is still a huge gray area when it comes to the law, one thing is for sure. Rules like this should not be implemented or accepted because of the long term impacts and effects they will have on social media as a whole.
1984 anyone?
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Tags: monitoring, schools, social media, violation, wallingford ct
I agree. I think that the school has no business monitoring students social media pages or accounts. I understand if someone is bullying a fellow classmate/teacher/staff member, or making threats. But I can see a student complaining about the school and them getting disciplined about it, which is bull because, everyone has a right to complain. It is just like how some employers are asking for their employees fb passwords. Its non or their business.
This definitely crosses a line for me. While I know that schools and teachers can act in locus parenti, social media is supposed to have privacy settings and I feel like unless the student is engaging IN THE BUILDING then the school can’t do anything. Now, with bullying, the police can always get involved to investigate IF NEEDED, but there does not need to be 24/7 monitoring of student accounts. I know bullying is a huge issue these days, but bullying has always been around, and the fact is, the GOOD KIDS are getting punished if this happens. The BULLIES will just continue to bully or find a new way to harass other kids. So once, again, applying more rules and restrictions does not solve the problem. It just limits the freedoms of “law abiding” students. Furthermore, as a teacher myself, this is a HUGE distraction to what we were hired to do. I did not sign up to be a social referee, I signed up to teach kids to read and write effectively, and inside of that, I always taught proper and kind communication with words, but if I had to constantly monitor my students social interactions, this would distract me from the teaching and learning environment. Ok…sorry this was so long, it is a topic that just gets under my skin and it felt good to have my ramble! Thanks for writing on this important topic!
I think the only time they would need to look at this is if online bullying is being carried over into school activities and they need to build a case against the bully. Otherwise, they need to mind their own business and concentrate on educating, not policing.
I think that’s too much to be monitoring their social media interactions outside of school. They do have a private life…
I can see where they THINK they are going with this, but it’s a violation of privacy, plain and simple. Hopefully they’ll see it as such before the lawsuits start up.
Agreed … if they wanted to monitor kids using their social media while AT school, I’m not sure I could find as many faults with that. But using it while not in school is ridiculous.
It seems that it’s the parents’ job to police their children’s internet activity…I would be furious if my kids’ school was following them around online after hours!
I would have to agree it crosses the line. The school is responsible for keeping my kidlets safe at school, but I am responsible for everything outside of the school. The school and the parents should work together to encourage children to achieve greatness instead of the school and the parents working against each other.
I confess I have mixed feeling about this. Having lives through an episode of our daughter being bullied through E-mails and G-chats in a way that was directly related to what was going on in school. Sadly, social media tools are just another way for kids to bully our children as many of us were bullied in “old fashioned” ways when we were kids.