MySpace, YourSpace, OurSpace …
Think you can put anything you want on your MySpace account? A school district in Libertyville, Illinois believes otherwise:
High school students are going to be held accountable for what they post on blogs and on social-networking Web sites such as MySpace.com.
The board of Community High School District 128 voted unanimously on Monday to require that all students participating in extracurricular activities sign a pledge agreeing that evidence of “illegal or inappropriate” behavior posted on the Internet could be grounds for disciplinary action.
I don’t have a problem with reporting illegal behavior. If a kid threatens to kill his parents, deal drugs at school, or watch a Pauley Shore movie, I agree that a school official (or anyone else, for that matter) should act on that information.
However, it’s that word “inappropriate” that gives me the heebee-jeebies. Who the heck gets to decide what is or isn’t appropriate? The school officials? I don’t think so! Cam Edwards says it best:
Knuckleheaded school administrators? You know, those brainiacs who suspend kids for carrying Advil and accidentally leaving butter knives in their cars. I’m sorry but these people can’t use judgement in those instances, why should I trust they’ll use good judgement when it comes to determining what is ‘inappropriate’ behavior?
I trust my son’s school with many things — his education, his physical well-being while at school, and the development of his critical thinking skills. I do not trust them with the development of his ethical or moral judgement — that’s my job.
To put it simply: school districts have no business policing the behavior of children when they’re off campus. Yes, you can make the case that some parent can’t or won’t take care of their children. But that’s why we have social services; there’s no need for the schools to get involved.
What’s next, policing the content of the parent’s blogs? If that’s the case, my son is so expelled.
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Actually, that was Farrah that posted that story. Anytime you see good zingers like that, it’s her post. I’m not that good a writer.
I can see your point. I also think parents DO need to get more involved in their childrens’ lives. Have you seen the kind of stuff that is posted on myspace? I was surprised, with all the bad publicity myspace has gotten lately, that the show 24 and BurgerKing have a tie in with them.
Cam - Don’t sell yourself too short, but you’re right that she’s a good writer!
Mike - What surprises me is that people are surprised that teens blog about the topics they blog about. It’s as if the entire country forgot what it was like to be a teenager.
It’s not necessarily what they blog (text) about. It’s the kind of pics they post. There is a little montage over at ifilm made up of pics posted on teens blogs from myspace. It’s actually a little amusing, being they put it to “The Greatest Love of All.” You can see it at http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2713146 and see what I’m talking about. Warning to those that wish to view it….Mature Content….well, IFilm will tell you the same thing.
What, no Dungeons and Dragons geeks? What kind of rebellious teens are we raising these days?
There is another good reason the schools feel a need to get involved in this:
Some bullying has now involved posting the real contact and identification information of students they are victimizing and then encouraging their readers to take advantage.