Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't see a huge problem with a teacher "friending" students even on a personal page, ala djaques comments. However, that is under the guise of a very boring life. You know, updates like "going camping with the family this weekend." Boring stuff. BUT, the OP has filled us in--it is younger children and there is not just adult content, but a lot of it (by the sounds of it). Yes, most adults drink and even *shock* get drunk once in awhile and as long as it is in the bounds of the law, most people don't care. However, to reveal that to kids on the cusp of teenagehood, and to do so in such a casual and constant way is--IMO--acting unprofessionally and that person should be called out.
As people have pointed out, the teacher has many options but she has blantlantly refused to use them. Also pointed out, the potential professional problems MySpace and Facebook present have been discussed in the mass media. One has to wonder: if the teacher is stupid enough to handle herself this way on this issue, what else is she stupid enough to do or not do?
Today I checked my work email and had an invitation to join his Facebook page from a student I had last semester who has since transferred schools. I am ignoring the message. I have a private Facebook page and refuse to have students or even former students on the page. My reason? It looks wrong. People see students on a teacher's personal page and ask themselves, "What else are they doing?"
My sister teaches 8th grade English and she has a myspace and a large chunk of her students are on it. She posts pics from class projects, field trips, etc. She also has a homework blog where they can ask questions and discuss homework assignments, quizzes, things like that. She has it set to where they can't post comments without her approval so no fear of cyber bullying or inapproriate content. There's nothing from her personal life on there except that she teaches 8th grade english. She got the idea when she was taking an online refresher course because she noticed the students were a lot more interactive in the community forum then they were in class. She said it's been very successful and its formed a lot of friendships in her class.
That's where a parent steps in. I would be fine if my 17 year old were friends with a 19 year old they had been in school with for years. I would NOT be ok if she were friends with a 30 year old.
i don't agree with that. When I was 17 I joined a summer program that cleaned up our city for volunteer credit. There was a girl there who was 29 - 12 years older than me. We ended up on the same crew and hung out pretty much every day throughout the summer. She met my parents and I met her husband. She was a really cool person; after the program was over we kept in touch and my parents even allowed her to accompany me on a college go-see in Evansville. Whenever I came home for break we'd always catch a movie and a bite to eat. She wrote me an awesome letter of recommendation and we keep in touch now. I'm the godmother to one of her kids.
i don't agree with that. When I was 17 I joined a summer program that cleaned up our city for volunteer credit. There was a girl there who was 29 - 12 years older than me. We ended up on the same crew and hung out pretty much every day throughout the summer. She met my parents and I met her husband. She was a really cool person; after the program was over we kept in touch and my parents even allowed her to accompany me on a college go-see in Evansville. Whenever I came home for break we'd always catch a movie and a bite to eat. She wrote me an awesome letter of recommendation and we keep in touch now. I'm the godmother to one of her kids.
That is an interesting situation. I'm glad that it worked out so nicely. ..in most situations, I think a friendship between a17 year old and a 30 year old would be odd....mostly from the 30 year old's perspective!
That is an interesting situation. I'm glad that it worked out so nicely. ..in most situations, I think a friendship between a17 year old and a 30 year old would be odd....mostly from the 30 year old's perspective!
I agree that a friendship between a 17 year old and a 30 year old would normally be odd, because a 17 year old and a 30 year old wouldn't normally hang out in the same social circles. However, in this situation, they worked together. I guess they became friends at work.
I don't know about you, but I've made some unexpected friendships at work, with people that are a lot different than me.
These were my thoughts, too. Have any of the parents actually gone on the page and looked at it? My guess is that it is school related only and not personal.
I don't think a teacher would want or invite her students to be her friends on their personal Myspace or Facebook account.
Most all schools now have their own network. All teachers and students have their own email addresses and they have a whole schoolwide network going.
No school would rely on Facebook or Myspace, both SOCIAL networks, to relay school related material, under any circumstances.
It's highly inappropriate for any school staff to invite or interact with students on social sites, as it is equally inappropriate for staff to request any student(s) to address that staff by his/her first name.
In order to maintain any amount of proper respect, divisions must be kept.
Just because she has a myspace does not make her a pedophile. I have a friend who is a teacher in a high school and has a facebook and her students are her friends on it. It's her way of checking on them to make sure they aren't getting in trouble. Before everyone jumps to conclusions, find out the facts.
2 of my children have myspace and facebook accounts. I know all the passwords and monitor...when it comes down to it, parents are responsible for your kids computer access.
The OP was about an elementary teacher not a HS teacher. The students in question were not even old enough to be on myspace (within the rules of myspace). I don't know that lots of people were concerned that the teacher was a pedophile so much as upset by the teacher's apparent lack of good judgement. By "friending" the students, the teacher was encouraging the students to be dishonest IMO. The teacher's myspace page was clearly meant for her adult friends and it shouldn't have been available to younger students. At the same time, yes the parents of these kids have responsibility to check up on things too.
The OP was about an elementary teacher not a HS teacher. The students in question were not even old enough to be on myspace (within the rules of myspace). I don't know that lots of people were concerned that the teacher was a pedophile so much as upset by the teacher's apparent lack of good judgement. By "friending" the students, the teacher was encouraging the students to be dishonest IMO. The teacher's myspace page was clearly meant for her adult friends and it shouldn't have been available to younger students. At the same time, yes the parents of these kids have responsibility to check up on things too.
Yeah, I saw that just now...weird! As a parent, I would have already checked their teacher's myspace out, and if I found it inappropriate as it sounds, I would have notified the principal.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
..in most situations, I think a friendship between a17 year old and a 30 year old would be odd....mostly from the 30 year old's perspective!
