One of the perils of all the new technology today is we have put valuable tools in the hands of today's youth who have little or no understanding of the possible consequences of their misuse. We have all heard the stories of various social networking tools being misused, with students discussing underage drinking activities, cyber-bullying, and discussing illegal or immoral acts they have committed. At Ethics Day in Bismarck, one of the speakers used a quote that really hit the issue on the head. He said, "Once on the Internet, forever on the Internet". Students don't realize the consequence of being so bold and open on the Internet, telling things that anyone and everyone may ultimately have access to.
One issue that concerns me is the use of sexting. This term refers to taking nude pictures of themselves or friends, some even performing sexual acts, and texting these pictures to friends. The students that participate in this activity don't understand that these pictures will in all likelihood be forwarded to other friends, and before long they may be seen by most other students in the school and beyond. Why would you want other people to see these photos, especially when they may fall into the wrong hands. There is also the concern of minors being the subject of the photos. When this happens, you in essence have child pornography. Not only are the students who took the pictures breaking the law, but anyone who possesses or passes on the pictures guilty of possessing or distributing child pornography, which is a federal crime. Students found guilty of this crime will also have to spend the rest of their lives as registered sex offenders. Students need to stop and think about the consequences of misusing these technological tools.
This brings me to the second issue I would like to discuss. There is a difficult balance between personal privacy and the need for administrators to keep the teaching staff informed of issues within the school. If there is a known instance of sexting or other crimes within a school, should the staff be advised of these circumstances? We don't need to know the names of the students involved, but wouldn't it be better if we knew about these issues before we here students talking about them? It never fails that the students will find out. How can we use this as a teachable moment if we don't know before a student says something about it? What are your thoughts?
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My school has had some issues with personal information being passed among the students. Our administration does keep us informed of the latest issues but not specific cases. The students definitely gossip about incidents. I do take a moment and let them know that they need to take these issues very seriously. One thing I remind the kids about is that the laptop we provide them is not really theirs. School policies for laptop use are 24/7, this means whatever you do at home falls under public domain. They are always surprised to hear this. We need to do a better job at educating students about the long term ramifications of posting personal information.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about this same topic and I have mixed feelings about it. You bring up a great points that when on the internet you are always on and that kids really don't know the potential damage they can inflict when they are sexting. Students taking nude pictures of themselves and giving them to their boyfriend or girlfriends is not something new that has come with camera cell phones. Kids were using Polaroids in the eighties and later digital cameras to take pictures of themselves. Research shows that females are taking more pictures of themselves than men are and that they are sending those pictures to their boyfriends. I think it is a little ludicrous to charge a teenage girl with distribution of child pornography for giving her boyfriend a nude picture of herself. Ask yourself what the intent is in cases like this - with that intent in mind (trying to impress a boyfriend) does the punishment (being a registered sex offender for life and a prison sentence) fit the crime? We really need to use our heads and treat each case differently. Blanket sentencing will not work with sexting. BUT, kids have to know the possible consequences of what they are doing and that it is not right to do. Education, education, education. Proactive, proactive, proactive. We need to start in elementary school when teaching kids about sexting and we need to drill them every year.
ReplyDeletecheers,
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This is a huge issue right now in our state as well. In my county, there was a principal who had her teaching certificate suspended for 2 years a few months ago because she was brought the phone and ultimately did nothing about it and it ended up on YouTube. This is a crazy thing. The bigger issue here is that students are allowed to bring cell phones to school and are using them regardless of the rules. These students and parents feel it is there "right" to hold a cell phone, in case of an emergency. Last time I checked, we had hard lines at school and teachers had cell phones. We can call for them. Cell phones should not be allowed in school for students. My mom works at an elementary school and kindergartners have cell phones. This is ridiculous. The only way to stop this is to put an ultimatum band on cell phones in school.
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