the Sam Jackson College Experience

all the exciting parts, none of the heavy debt burden

Feb 4, 2008 9

Facebook as an education tool? Teachers friending students? Could soon be against the law in Missouri.

Teachers, educators, and librarians sometimes ponder the possible uses of Facebook as an education tool; students and teachers alike talk about the awkwardness and occasional utility that arises from online social networking interactions between-groups. The Education Committee of Missouri has weighed in with a proposal which paints its picture using a giant “sex offenders are everywhere, trying to sneak into our schools” brush. The Columbia Missourian reports:

Teachers would be restricted from connecting with students on Web sites such as Facebook under a proposal by the House Education Committee chairwoman.

The Education Committee added a section to a bill Wednesday regarding teacher-student interaction on social networking Web sites that parents cannot access.

The umbrella bill, aimed at keeping sexual offenders from teaching in Missouri schools, would prohibit teachers from using a “non-work-related Internet site” to communicate with students where third parties have no access. In other words, parents need to see profiles.

“Rep. Jane Cunningham, R-St. Louis, committee chairwoman and sponsor of the bill, said its purpose is to protect children from offenders that school administration cannot catch.” Thus, to protect children from the very small fraction of would-be teachers who might possibly be sex offenders or otherwise have villainous intentions for the youth of Missouri, a whole potential range of social interactions are set to be neutered. Why not ban e-mail, telegraphs, or carrier pigeons, too?

There’s a joke in here somewhere about Missouri being the “Show Me State” but I’m not even going to search for it, because this is just so poorly calculated in my mind–the goal and the means to achieving that goal seem very disconnected and its reminiscent of the deeply misinformed national debate on so many “protect the children from the scary internet” stories in Washington. Thoughts? Christian, other teachers and educators, your opinions especially wanted. Faculty + facebook — always no go?

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Who is Sam Jackson?

photo headshot sam jacksonI'm currently a junior at Yale University and I've been blogging about college admissions and higher education marketing trends since I began my college application process in 2005. I now also write about my experience here at Yale. I just got back from studying abroad at Peking University this past Fall 2009 in Beijing, China! Click here to read my 'about' page.

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