With the growing usage and need for internet services, more people are using sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Almost half of all Americans use Facebook and sometimes those “friend requests” are between teachers and students in middle schools and high schools. There is some controversy saying that teachers and students being “friends” on Facebook can be a situation in which teachers are disrespected and students, because they share their personal information, can be sexually harassed.
I think that student teacher “friendships” on Facebook can be an important tool in the learning process. Social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Pinterest can be powerful educational resources because students can search for videos or pictures of something they are learning or want to learn. Kids are using something they are already fond of to be educated.
These websites can be an extension of the classroom. Teachers can post discussion pages about that day’s learning topic. They can post homework reminders as their “status” on Facebook or a page’s “status”. Students can re-watch the class on YouTube just in case they missed something or were absent that day from school. Because kids are on these websites all the time the likelihood of them seeing these discussions, reminders and videos increases.
Teachers and students might actually have a personal relationship with each other. If my Aunt Irene is a teacher at my school, shouldn’t I be allowed to be “friends” with her on Facebook?
Most opposers of my opinion (who want to pass a law forbidding teachers and students from being friends on Facebook) say that teachers could sexually harass a student because they have access to their personal information. But, the teacher could make a page on Facebook – not a profile – therefore not having direct contact with the student. And if this teacher were hired at a workplace full of children, wouldn’t his or her employer do a background check to make sure the individual wasn’t a sexual harasser?
They also say that students could disrespect the teacher. But teachers can put restrictions on a page forbidding anybody but him or her from posting on the website. And students can’t post on a teacher’s page unless they are friends.
To compromise, a teacher could make a website or a page on Facebook specifically focusing on the classroom and nothing else. No sexual harassment or disrespect. And if either of these are happening a person can be blocked from the website or page. Or they could be reported. “Mrs. Irene’s 1st Period” page could have people added on it that are only from the classroom or parents of the students in that classroom. This way, teachers and students don’t interact in a way that is too personal or disrespectful.
