A teachable moment: Facebook isn't private.

An individual wrote to New York Times ethicist Randy Cohen, discussing a friend who teaches eighth grade, and whose class all "friended" her on Facebook, which led to her learning about questionable activities the kids engaged in (such as drinking, drug use, academic dishonesty. He or she asks Cohen what the teacher should do about what they learn. Cohen responds with suggestions that, rather than turning the kids in, she should use the knowledge of what they're doing to teach them that Facebook isn't like a diary left on the kitchen table, that anyone can see what they're doing, should they choose to look. He goes on to suggest several ways she can act as a teacher, not a "cop," as he feels her role should be.

Beyond the obvious oxymoron of being an ethicist for The New York Times (where was he when Jason Blair was making up sources and plagiarising?), I see several issues with his suggestion, both as an educator, and as a student.

First off, I heartily disagree with his statement that she shouldn't really do anything but mention that incriminating photos of students drunk or high might cost them opportunities later in life. Hello, this woman isn't a college instructor. She teaches eighth grade. That's kids that are 12, 13 years old. Maybe 14, at most. Cohen says

"...the most significant peril you describe may not be a little teenage drinking or recreational drug use but the public exposure of this “mischief.” Your friend has a chance to teach these students about Internet privacy or the lack of it. She should carpe that diem. Were she simply to bust these online doofuses, she would squander a chance to convey something of lasting importance and leave them feeling that she had betrayed their trust.

To them, Facebook and the like occupy some weird twilight zone between public and private information, rather like a diary left on the kitchen table. That a photo of drunken antics might thwart a chance at a job or a scholarship is not something all kids seriously consider."

WhileI agree that they, and all Facebook users, need to think about how pictures they take and post now might affect their chances later, I'm horrified that he seems to brush off kids not far into puberty altering their body chemistry on a regular basis. That, right there, seems as if it could pose a serious threat to their health and development that he simply doesn't address. It's almost as if he thinks that kids cannot be expected to learn self-restraint about anything, so why punish them for putting themselves in danger?

As a teacher, I think the eighth grade teacher definitely should make sure these kids understand that, by "friending" her, they've given her the key to their "private" diary. She should warn them once, in general terms, that they've got one chance to remove any photos or mentions of illegal or academically dishonest activities from their pages, and that, should she see it the next time she logs on, she's required--by law--to report the underage drinking and drugs (which she is).

As a teacher, I think she was absolutely in the wrong to accept "friend" requests from her eighth grade students. She needs to remember that, as a young and popular female teacher, she's going to be coming under more and more scrutiny in her interactions with her students, thanks to young, popular female teachers like Deb Lefave.

And, as a student who never cheated, and never plagiarized, I'd really resent her if she didn't take a strong stance against academic dishonesty by making sure those who cheated and plagiarized were punished, when convicted by their own words.

Via Joanne Jacobs' blog.