Comment & Debate
Since Facebook became widely used in modern society, a debate has existed regarding whether it is appropriate for teachers and students to have private friendships and communications online. Teachers, students, school administrators, and parents have juggled with the question. And, in August of 2011, the debate entered legal territory, as the state of Missouri initiated a law that would take effect on August 28th banning private/exclusive teacher-student relationships online, while allowing conversations that occur in public view. The Missouri law, called the “Amy Hestir Student Protection Act” after a former Missouri public school student who was molested by a teacher decades prior, mandates that: “Teachers cannot establish, maintain, or use a work-related website unless it is available to school administrators and the child’s legal custodian, physical custodian, or legal guardian. Teachers also cannot have a nonwork-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student.”[1] The new law has created widespread debate in the United States and elsewhere regarding the appropriate boundaries for teachers in their online relationships, and, more generally, regarding appropriate communications between minors and adults online. The pros and cons of the law are considered below.
“The policy could strip teachers of the ability to set up a social media site that works as an extension of the classroom. As technology becomes more important in professional and personal lives, our education system is often several steps behind.”
“critics argue that a student struggling with ‘Hamlet,’ for instance, misses a learning opportunity when he or she sees a teacher on IM and can’t send a message. Or a student who is too shy to raise his hand in class might prefer to email his teacher, but might not feel comfortable knowing his parents or a member of the administration might be reading the email as well.”
Doug Bonney, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri: “We have tons of calls coming into our office on this issue. The vast majority of teachers are using social media very appropriately and effectively in our state.”
Brent Ghan, spokesman of the Missouri School Boards Association, pointed out that high school students live in a virtual world these days and to cut direct and private contact in this arena is a bad idea. “That is how you communicate with them,” Ghan said.
“‘The number one technology that students use outside school is social networking sites,’ said Christine Greenhow, an assistant professor at the College of Education and the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland. ‘This is the technology they’re going to as their one-stop shop for communication. It’s their email, their bulletin board, their online photo album, it’s where they do their writing.’ For that reason, Greenhow, whose area of expertise is learning in social media contexts, argued that limiting communication between teachers and students only furthers the gap between a student’s in-school life and his or her life outside of school.”
“yes to keeping teachers and school employees from ‘friending’ their young charges on unsupervised social media sites. But also, “yes” to finding a way to harness the appeal of networking sites for academic purposes – in a safe, controlled environment.”
“Teachers should not agree to join a student’s list of Facebook friends, engage in texting or other electronic communication that could cast suspicion on the teacher-student relationship. There are boundaries that must not be crossed. The teacher is not a pal, but an authority figure and a mentor who must keep a respectful emotional and social distance.”
“Chairman Don Hayes summed it up well, noting that there is a desk between teacher and student. We have seen what happens when teachers or other school employees push that desk out of the way, from suggestive text messages to full-blown sexual affairs. Sometimes what should go without saying still needs to be said.”
Josh Wolford at WebProNews: “Let’s be honest, social media is a liability. Maintaining a respectable image is incredibly important as a teacher,’ and doing so on Facebook can be a challenge. Even when sexual misconduct isn’t an issue, ‘does a teacher really want Tuesday morning’s classroom discussion to be dominated by Monday night’s relationship status change from ‘engaged’ to ‘single’?’ Why let students know, even inadvertently, that she graded their papers while battling a grueling hangover? On the flip side, do students really want their teacher to know what they were doing all weekend when they were supposed to be studying? I think not.”
Christine Greenhow, an assistant professor at the College of Education and the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland: “It seems to assume the worst about teachers, that teachers are sexual predators. Amy Mascott, a mother of three and former teacher who started Teach Mama, a blog focusing on education, said: “I feel it immediately colors the teacher-student relationship in a negative way, assuming that all teachers are going to act inappropriately with students.”[5]
Casey Chan at Gizmodo. This law seems to be “accusing all teachers of some sort of blanket guilt.”[6]
“It’s supposed to protect anything illicit from ever happening because, uh duh, all those improper statutor-ish relationships begin on Facebook. It’s an incubator for rape! It’s hell on the internet! Come on. It’s pretty silly to think that blocking student and teacher “Facebook friendships” could ever stop this from happening when the weirdos and creepers who get into these nasty messes STILL SEE EACH OTHER IRL EVERYDAY.”
“ Laws on the books already exist regarding sexual harassment and abuse of minors. If an administrator, parent, or anybody else discovers an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and student, they will have every recourse to pursue legal action.
Inside and outside of school property, there is always a risk of sexual abuse. This does not mean that cameras should be placed in every classroom and on every street corner. A balance must be struct that recognizes individual liberties and the need for safety. The FB law goes too far in violating individual liberties in order to try to solve a risk online that would not receive a proportionally draconian approach offline.
Charol Shakeshaft, professor and chairwoman of the Department of Educational Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University: “Exclusive and private contact with your students isn’t educationally necessary. In the same way that in a school we would say, ‘No, you may not lock yourself into a room with a student,’ this law effectively says, ‘No you may not lock yourself into a website where only you can get to the student.’ […] Anything I need to do as a teacher I can do in a public space or a space that can be accessed by people. If I need to be doing it completely in private, then I shouldn’t be doing it.”
While some think that the Facebook law unfairly puts teachers in a negative light, parents are not being irrational in worrying about a teacher potentially taking advantage of students. A 2004 report for the Department of Education found that 10 percent of public school children have been victims of sexual harassment or abuse. A 2007 Associated Press study found that there were 2,500 allegations of sexual misconduct by teachers, school psychologists, administrators and other school employees across 50 states over five years.
Charol Shakeshaft, professor and chairwoman of the Department of Educational Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University: “A lot of the grooming of students for sexual abuse is now happening over the Internet,” Shakeshaft said, noting that in the 50 court cases she has been consulted on involving students being sexually abused by school employees, every one of them involved communication by email, IM, text or a social network.
“The bottom line is that any law that aims to protect students online, and those young people who are over the age of 13 and on Facebook, is a good thing. This is an effort worth monitoring.”
Individuals have a right to associate and communicate with whomever they like in their private time. Forbidding teachers from communicating with their students freely on their private time, for schooling or other purposes, therefore violates their right to free speech and free association.
“ It should be left up to schools to set the boundaries for social media. Some schools may need to emphasize teacher-student mentoring in and out of the classroom, for example, and find it important to allow Facebook “friendships” and private communications. And, by making it a school instead of state responsibility, there is less risk of running into first amendment and freedom of association issues; if a student, teacher, or parent doesn’t like a policy, they can simply leave (whereas a state law is more binding).
Republican State Sen. Jane Cunningham: “We are by no means trying to stop communication, just make it appropriate and make it available to those who should be seeing it,” Cunningham said. “Exclusive communication is a pathway into the sexual misconduct.
There are many limits on free speech, from libel laws to hate crime laws. All of these are intended to address real threats to society. The FB law does the same thing. It does not prohibit speech nor association between students and teachers, but simply limits private, exclusive speech and associations in order to address a real hazard of sexual abuse.
Republican State Sen. Jane Cunningham: “We are by no means trying to stop communication, just make it appropriate and make it available to those who should be seeing it,” Cunningham said. “Exclusive communication is a pathway into the sexual misconduct.”
There are many limits on free speech, from libel laws to hate crime laws. All of these are intended to address real threats to society. The FB law does the same thing. It does not prohibit speech nor association between students and teachers, but simply limits private, exclusive speech and associations in order to address a real hazard of sexual abuse.
To access the second half of this Issue Report Login or Buy Issue Report
To access the second half of all Issue Reports Login or Subscribe Now
