Discipline Via FaceBook and Twitter

To discipline or not discipline, that is the question... Just as teachers and staff are thinking about what they post on social networking sites, disciplinary action against students is making our youth ask the same questions. From one side of the spectrum of making violent threats to posting "Harlem Shake" videos; words and actions on the internet may bring ramifications on our students. Principals and Superintendents alike are battling with how to treat student posts on YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter and Instragram (among other sites). Even the language used such as "policing student activity on social media" has to raise questions from both parents and community members.

Recent events in American history have altered the way our culture operates on a daily basis. Whether you are going through an airport security check point, crossing political borders, or posting violent based material; much of what we do is monitored and surveilled. But when it comes to education where  are we going to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough. Just as 9/11 had done before, the Newtown shooting massacre changed the way Americans think of sending their students off to school. Questions have risen from Newtown, such as national gun control and armed security in each of our public schools. (Why not, the presidents children attend a school with armed guards...) I agree that, "Times They are a-Changin", but with our lack of security have we lost who we are as a nation? Those who have freedom of speech and the ability to express ourselves nonviolently that citizens of many other countries do not. For a group of male students to post a video of themselves dancing in a locker room and then get suspended is just too much.

On the other hand, some districts and schools have yet to even put in place policies for actions taken on social networking sites. The Superintendent over Rocky River High School in Ohio had a racially charged situation escalate in an online post of two of their students. But his reply simply was that his hand were tied to an extent and since the school did not create the accounts for the students, legality revisited that "no mans land" of grey area.

To put it plainly, our students and teachers must be both legal experts and well versed in the school handbook on proper internet usage, otherwise suspensions, expulsions, and joblessness may be in their future.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

-Bob Dylan

http://www.cleveland.com/sun/all/index.ssf/2013/03/west_shore_area_schools_have_v.html