Friending of Teachers on Social Networks Banned in Missouri
Starting August 28 students and teachers in Missouri will no longer allowed to be friends on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The basis of the legislation is to protect children (minors) from inappropriate relationships. While I generally don't believe in legislation for such matters I applaud the state for making the move.
My kids are not yet old enough to be using social media but if they were I would require the same rule in our house. For me it's not about having access to the teacher or learning but about respect and authority. I don't think that my children need to know every detail of their teachers lives. They don't need to be know where they went to dinner or see pictures of their children's birthday parties.
Once you open up that door to friendship it's harder to be an authority. As adults we can friend colleagues and understand that it's a superficial level of intimacy. We can banter back and forth and share details of our life but if we were in trouble we wouldn't count on them. Children don't always have those finely tuned social skills. Beyond opening the door to being taken advantage of by people with not good intentions being overly friendly with a teacher can be confusing to a young still developing mind.
There is also the question of authority. Teachers are responsible to be designated reporters to the state (at least in my state) if there is suspicious behavior exhibited by the child.
We've all been teenagers before and tried out things we weren't supposed to do. In the world of social media those indiscretions are frequently being played out online for all the world to see. Does the teacher than have an obligation to report what she may or may not have seen online? I have worked with college students and been faced with that friend or not friend conundrum. I repeatedly denied friend requests from my students until the graduated and we're no longer my students.
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