I made a really clever analogy the other day. One of my summer school kiddos was talking about how MySpace is so vastly inferior to Facebook, and I said, “Yeah, sort of like the Beta was to the VHS tape.” The kid looked at me blankly, so I had to explain what I meant … but it got me thinking a lot about Facebook.
Social media sites—and Facebook is definitely at the head of the class, at least for the moment—have opened up many, many doors. It’s allowed old friends to reconnect and has even played a role in birth parents finding the children they gave up for adoption (although there is some controversy there, natch).
I love Facebook. I do. It gives me great pleasure to know exactly what’s going on in the lives of my friends without having to pick up the phone (I deplore the telephone), and the “like” feature is just genius.
Now, the largest school department in New Hampshire is joining some other districts nationwide in creating a Facebook policy for its teachers, and I’m really kind of pissed off about it. (Note—I do not work in this district)
From WMUR:
Teachers and administrators in New Hampshire’s largest city are going to be warned about what they post to social networking sites such as Facebook and to avoid online contact with students.
The policy proposed by Manchester Superintendent Thomas Brennan Tuesday would prohibit teachers from inviting students to be friends on social networking sites or agreeing to student friend requests.
Um … okay, the focus here seems to be on teachers being “Facebook friends” with students. I’m sure that was intentional as it is inflammatory enough to make the reader miss the “warned about what they post to social networking sites such as Facebook” part.
You know, I have a Facebook. I love my Facebook. I am not friends with any of my students on Facebook. That’s just common sense and should go without saying. It’s frankly kind of insulting that a school district would feel that teachers have to be told this.
What bothers me even more, though, is the insinuation that what a teacher posts on Facebook is anybody’s business other than that teacher’s and his or her friends.
There’s some pretty crazy shit on my Facebook (well, for a 33-year-old schoolteacher). I also have an apparent affinity for posting while intoxicated, which comes out when I do things like post, “Oh, Captain, my Captain!!!!!!” during a rum and coke fueled evening or taking pictures of phallic art created from drink garnishes and swords (it was not my idea). Oh, and then there was the notable “Texas Ropadhouse is good,” [Ed. Note: Ha! I caught that one.] which actually happened right around the time my piece on menstrual art ran on ZL.
So, yeah, me, a BlackBerry, and alcohol are not a fantastic mix … unless, of course, you’re on the other side and then it’s evidently pretty entertaining.
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