Should kids get in trouble at school for what they say on a social networking site?

[Rainstorm]

So, I've been hearing and reading about teenagers getting in trouble at school for what they post on Facebook or Myspace.

What I don't get is, why are they getting in trouble for speaking their mind? Unless they are saying that they are going to kill someone there, I don't see why they are being given detention for simply saying they hated the way a teacher acted in class or something along those lines. There's no point in it.

We have the Freedom of Free Speech for a reason. Even if its on Facebook, your still speaking your mind. And unless its putting others in danger, I don't see why they can't post what they want on the accounts

[Hyper]

No I don't think schools should separately intervene, to me it seems like another one of those ''we got nothing better to do'' bullshits..

Its stretching things too far. Why don't they take the spare time they have staring at their students facebooks and dealing with BS like this to actually teach subjects better, impose more discipline, help kids to ''understand'' other people & their viewpoints and so on..

[Sugaree]

No, kids shouldn't be getting in trouble for what they say on Facebook or MySpace. They are speaking their minds and have every damn right to do so. However, if it comes to the point where they post something along the lines of killing someone then there is a problem. If these kids want to post what they think or feel, then they should be able to without being subjected to someone spewing bullshit on why kids shouldn't.

[Bougainvillea]

I think that the way people act on those networking sites reflect how they really are, so I do think some kind of action needs to be taken. Especially if what they said was hurtful, or completely disrespectful.

[Mal]

Meh, just say 'human rights' and 'sue' and you're problems are solved.

In all seriousness though, schools don't have any right to punish people for things they did outside of school. I mean come on, they can't punish a kid for beating the shit out of another kid outside the gates, but they can punish someone for posting that their teacher sucks on facebook? That's just retarded if you ask me. Especially as kids are supposed to hate their teachers...

[Sugaree]

I think that the way people act on those networking sites reflect how they really are, so I do think some kind of action needs to be taken. Especially if what they said was hurtful, or completely disrespectful.

It's an opinion. The only way it can be insulting is if the person saying such opinion means for it to be insulting. The person reading the comment/post/whatever has the decision to take it as an insult.

[Camazotz]

If a comment is unrelated to school or happens somewhere out of school, including a social networking site, there's absolutely no reason for the school to intervene. If it really is that much of a problem, some sort of law enforcement should intervene.

[Bric]

School can't intervene in anything outside of the school, including social networking sites

[Giles]

School can't intervene in anything outside of the school, including social networking sites

Yes they can actually. If it has something to do with the safety of a student, teacher of that school then they have every right to do something to help that student.

For example - a group of year 9 pupils locked an art teacher in a cupboard, she got out and collapsed crying on the floor. When the video was posted on YouTube she left the school and went into early retirement.
All this happened because of a group on FaceBook, called "Lets lock xxx in her cupboard" - No one knew that she's seen this group and was already nervous about the lesson, she had a panic attack.

That all happened because the school knew but didn't intervene with a group on a social networking site when it came to teacher safety.

[Doctor Fate]

I think it's stupid that anyone takes anything people write on the Internet seriously... I can't count how many times I've gotten in trouble with the cops for writing suicidal crap on FaceBook, and.. I think it's ridiculous.

[Jove]

I think it's stupid that anyone takes anything people write on the Internet seriously... I can't count how many times I've gotten in trouble with the cops for writing suicidal crap on FaceBook, and.. I think it's ridiculous.

Look it at it this way, It's what you have written.

Also, even if you don't mean it you need to indicate that because they cannot tell whether or not you were serious about it.

[nick]

If a kid posts something about the school, or its staff, then that can affect the image of that school in the community and its not surprising or unreasable for the school to have a view on that. If you post anything bad about people you could run foul of the libel laws if anyone wanted to take it that far. So depending on the circumstances of the case I think its fair enough for the school to take disciplinary action. The same applies to adults saying stuff about their workplace.

[Mental]

If the website (like Facebook) was used in school/college, then yes, the school has the right to intervene. It would go under the school's anti-bullying legislation, as you're technically on school property.

But if its a petty fight on Facebook done outside of school, the school has no right or even a reason to intervene at all.

However, even then it depends. When I was in Year 9 some chav threatened to beat up one of my friends on MSN, and she was too scared to come into school for about 3 days. The school has the right to investigate on that, as the school is still indirectly involved.

[IowaBoy]

Unless the "threat(s)" might endanger students and/or staff members in the school then the school should NOT investigate and/or punish students OR staff.

[CuriousDestruction]

students have a constitutional and legal right to free speech inside and outside the classroom. don't believe me? check this out:http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=410&invol=667. i've worked in the past with the ACLU on this very subject and the ACLU currently has a lawsuit pending in the 9th circuit court for a student who posted rap lyrics on myspace, (they expelled him), and will come into session sometime this summer. now that isn't to say that students can say whatever they want. if they say obscene things or slander they can get in trouble, however any criticism cannot be censored or penalized.

[Evermore]

No, this is wrong to bring their school life into their social life. I know I go to myspace sometimes when I need to vent. So occasionally I might even say that I would kill someone(maybe even a teacher) to take that as seriousness would be stupid and incompetent. It should be none of a school staffs buiseness if a student has a myspace, what he/she posts on that myspace and who they befriend there. If anything it is a parent who should intervene but not the school.

[INFERNO]

The problem is that in writing, sarcasm or jokes, especially from people who may not know the person well may not see it that way. If you're pissed off at a teacher and say you'll kill him/her, if someone else reads it, how are they to know whether you're psychotic, pissed off or under the influence? Granted, one can argue the context involves can say something but not in all cases.

But a better reason is slander. If you say that a teacher has done something when they really haven't, you're slandering them. The same goes for slandering a school. You have the right to write down whatever you feel like, nobody is stopping you there, however, you may be faced with certain consequences depending on what you wrote.

When there is an issue between students outside of school, such as facebook, msn, myspace and so forth, it gets a bit tricky. If A threatens B and makes B so scared to attend class, B may give a printout of what A said to a teacher but it's then hard to have the teacher penalize A. At most, they can call the police or parents. However, since it affects the school's students, the teachers may want to intervene despite not having legal authority to do so. Thus, A and B cant really get a detention or expelled for what they say out of school assuming it has nothing to do with teachers or the school. Once they begin posting about the teachers or school, then the teachers and the school can certainly get involved legally. Whether or not that can expel or give you a detention is another matter.

I think the school can also intervene if what is said between A and B online was done from within the school (i.e. school computers).