There are reasons schools should be able to monitor student's online lives that you may not even think of, one of the being just simply saving a child's life. This article states in paragraph 3, "The school district went with the firm Geo Listening after a pilot program with the company last spring helped a student who was talking on social media about "ending his life." By being able to keep track and monitor kid's lives outside of school, you could potentially save them in the long run. If a child is feeling that depressed then he or she obviously needs someone to talk to and someone to be there for them, but it is not possible to help unless someone knows about the issue. This article also says in paragraph 5, "We were able to save a life," said Richard Sheehan, the Glendale superintendent, adding that two students in the school district had committed suicide the past two years." Without being able to monitor that child's activities online, their life would have probably been taken. With that said, the two students that took their own lives could have possibly been saved if only the teachers and staff from their school were allowed to monitor the activities on their social networks, places online that allow students to share ideas, a way of spreading information or news.
Not only would making this decision allow schools to potentially save students' lives, but also just prevent cyber-bullying as a whole. In paragraph 11 of this article Wayne Blanton states, "the school was aware of on-campus bullying of Sedwick and dealt with it by separating the students and putting them in different classes, but it was not aware of the off-campus bullying -- online -- that was taking place." Schools can usually take care of any bullying that happens on their campuses. Although, they are not always aware of the cyber-bullying that takes place "behind the scenes." This would not be an issue though, if schools could just access a student's online sites and monitor them. Also according to Blanton in paragraph 12, "if parents or students notify a school about suspected bullying off-campus, the school has the authority to look at a student's Facebook posts and e-mails." I do not think schools should have to wait until they are notified of suspected bullying out of school to have access to a student's social media. Suspecting any type of bullying taking place, teachers should be able to access that student's social networks to investigate and find out for sure if there is anything going on.
In our school I know we have some teachers who follow some of our students on social media sites, such as Twitter, sharing information about school events. I really think that that is a great idea. It is an awesome way to watch and keep track of students' thoughts and their feelings. In paragraph 20, this article states "John Palfrey Jr., head of the boarding school Phillips Academy in Massachusetts, said he and his colleagues try to strike a balance between ensuring students' safety and not having them feel "like we are recording their every move." This is a very good point. Being able to monitor your students' online lives is great in the sense that you can protect them, but there is also a line that you cannot cross. Students, especially teenagers, need their space and their own lives without feeling like they're being watched every second of every day. It also says in paragraph 21, "If a student follows him on Twitter, he will follow them back, but on Facebook, teachers don't accept friend requests from students or extend them, and they don't "go hunting around" to see what students are saying on the social networking platform." As long as there is no reason to go "hunting around" and stalking what students are posting on their profiles, I do not think adults should monitor their every move.
There are many reasons why schools should be able to monitor a student's online life. Obvious ones being to protect them from cyber-bullying or even depression and just saving them from themselves. With that being said, if schools do make the decision to allow teachers and the rest of the staff to look at any students' profiles, taking the students' privacy in to consideration, they should not be able to look at anything unless of course there is a reason to look.
Work Cited
Wallace, Kelley. "At some schools, 'Big Brother' is watching." CNN. 8 Nov. 2013. Web. 9 Nov.
2013.
