I have to sympathize with school principals faced with disruptive behavior. They must live in a state of constant
vigilance, the threat of a cafeteria massacre always looming. The problem is, the disruptive behavior in question takes
place outside of school, away from the offline world entirely. This
WSJ piece (no reg) describes how schools are monitoring MySpace and other networks, printing out reams of blog
posts asnd comments, and suspending students for crossing lines of social behavior traditionally limited to the school
campus. The difference between mean comments on the phone or in email, and harrassing behavior in MySpace, is the
public nature of social networks.
Where should the line be drawn? Do schools have a right—even a responsibility—to protect students from other students
on a public Web site?
Schools Stepping Into Social Sites
Reader Comments
(Page 1)3. Wow, that is really interesting... I'm honestly not sure what to make of it. It doesn't really sound like it's the school's responsibility or right to take action based on an online forum.
But then, can you really blame them for trying? I think that schools are (amongst many other things) responsible for enforcing their law within the school. If an online forum is affecting the school, I'm not sure they are wrong for using it to gather information and punish disruptive students.
Posted at 8:11PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Joshua Aresty
4. Howdy! I posted a response and extension to what you've written here. Thank you for getting me thinking about this!
Miguel Guhlin
http://www.mguhlin.net/blog
Posted at 8:11PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Miguel Guhlin
1. There is a mistaken perception that the purpose of schools is to educate. The true, subversive purpose of schools is to create subservient consumers for the corporate-state (http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm). As such, school monitoring and punishment for participating in out-of-school activities fits totally within the public school's purpose.
Posted at 8:11PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Anonymous Coward