New Jersey Principal Wants to Keep Middle School Kids Off Facebook -- Do You Agree?

New Jersey Principal Wants to Keep Middle School Kids Off Facebook -- Do You Agree?

abcnews.go.com

A New Jersey middle school principal is on a campaign to get his students off social networking sites like Facebook.
N.J. principal wants kids' access to sites such as Facebook and MySpace blocked.

Anthony Orsini, of Ridgewood, N.J., believes that the sites do more harm than good -- facilitating bullying and putting kids at risk to online predators.

He said younger and younger children seek to log on every year. While social media used to be limited to eighth-graders and older, Orsini now sees fourth-grade students bullying on Facebook.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Okay, this was also mentioned on Headline News this morning. And I'm sorry ahead of time if this has already been posted, but I checked search and no mention of it.

I personally think that this guy has the kid's interests at heart, but where does parenting stop, and "in-school parenting" begin? I think it is ridiculous that schools are trying more and more to be the parent, telling the parents themselves what is good and what isn't good for their children. In my own personal opinion, I think this is bleed-over from the nanny-state politics that are currently going on in Washington.

What are your views on this? Should middle school kids not be allowed on Facebook? Should it be a requirement for being in this school that you are not allowed to use a social networking site? Does the school have that much power?

I'm curious. Let me know what you think.


Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

edit: for spelling

abcnews.go.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 29-4-2010 by truthseeker1984]

Facebook is only the tip of the iceberg. Texting, video games, cell phones, etc. Are just as unhealthy as facebook. But I know many kids who have parents that spend more time on Facebook than their kids. You see that's the entire problem with US society...........when you have idiot parents you'll have idiot kids. Most of the problems with our children are a direct reflection of their parents behavior. Texting is a perfect example. You know how many times I look over while I'm driving and there is a big SUV filled with kids and their soccer mom is incessantly texting in the front seat while sitting at the stop light? ALL THE TIME! I wonder who the hell all these moms are texting? Lovers? Friends? Husbands? Just who the hell are all these kids and adults texting? That's what I don't understanding. So yes it's a great idea but it should start with responsible parenting not some bureaucrat/teacher.

I agree....

If it's on school computers, no access.

If the kids are at home and doing it, then it's up to the parents.

Now, I would have no problem with the principle sending a letter home to the parents, with his concerns about these kinds of sites. Then it's up to the parents.

Parents need to act like parents once again.

There is no good reason for kids to be on social networking sites.

There is no good reason for kids to be online, except when working on researching homework.

We need to help our kids be kids. Give them time to grow up. The article that I read about this said that the school counselors were spending 75% of their time dealing with issues from social networking sites.

I am a parent of an 11 year old girl and she begs me to let her on and I will not allow it. For two reasons. One, the ToS states clearly the 14 year old age limit. Two, she will be putting herself out there for everyone to see if I dont monitor her account 100% of the time and I dont have enough time in my day to do so.

Personally I think you should have to be 18 to get on Facebook.

I say nay to the nanny state.

Parents and teachers will do EVERYTHING to blame anything but themselves for their own failings.

If it was up to me, I'd let people stay with their facebooks and their myspaces, why? Because it connects people throughout the entire world, and reminds us subconsciously that communication is prosperity in the works. What we should not be doing is letting the creators of the social sites give our privacy away to agencies and governments. I don't see the reason why we should all be monitored under a "free" society. If what i think, and if my opinion scares the # out of my government, then what is it hiding from me?

I believe it is 100% up to the parents. Period.
Now, I support having these sites blocked at school. But once kids leave campus, it is none of the school's business.

I'm not a fan of facebook, for my family or myself. My kids constantly beg for cell phones, facebook, previously myspace, internet for their psp's. Nope, I'm not having any of it. I tell them they can get a cell phone at the same age I did, 18 when I could sign the contract and pay the bill.

We have one computer and it sits in the living room, so that anyone can see what is going on, not that I necessarily hover while doing work but they know at moment I could be walking past and if they don't want me to see it, it's better not to be on it.

I see it like this when they have friends over I check in on them and make sure everything is alright and they aren't getting into anything that they shouldn't be. How is online different?

I do not think kids understand just how permanent the internet is, and there will be no pics of my kiddies on line. Even assuming that they only indent on putting up the most innocent pics, there's still photoshop, and who knows where your face will end up.

I was waiting for a few replies until I posted again.

I agree on both sides of the fence with this one. Being a teacher myself, I find that kids are spending more and more time worrying about what Susy-Q is doing with Bobby-O, than actually working on homework. I think it is a brilliant idea to restrict Facebook status in the school system. I think it is a GREAT idea to restrict access to sites that aren't conducive to the educational environment. I think teachers are the only ones that should be allowed unrestricted internet access (except to porn sites of course). I have used YouTube more than once in lectures I have given about the advancements in music over the past 100 years. The district that I am currently subbing in restricts access to youtube to the students in the district. They restrict facebook, myspace, and all those other sites as well.

I don't think children at this age have the psychological ability to handle the influx of information that they get everyday, whether it be from MSM, the internet, Facebook, or whatever else.

This also brings up my original point about where parents stop being parents and the schools step in. I think many people my age who are parents would rather let the internet, video games, tv, etc. babysit their kids. They take no accountability in their children's lives, and it is apparent when these same parents start blaming teachers for their own offspring's shortcomings. Parents need to start being parents again and start taking an active role in their offspring's lives. I know this all too well from being a teacher.

I think this whole issue opens up an entirely different can of worms that should be addressed at the same time: Bad Parenting, plain and simple.


Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
I believe it is 100% up to the parents. Period.
Now, I support having these sites blocked at school. But once kids leave campus, it is none of the school's business.

But what happens when it gets brought into the school? Look at the news lately about the "cyber-bullying". We have kids picking on fellow students using social networking sites from home. We have kids killing themselves because they "don't have enough friends".

While I will agree that the parents have to start accepting responsibility for their actions, there needs to be someone trying to be a good influence on the kids. There is needs to be a break in the vicious cycle of self-entitled little idiots we have growing up today. The parents don't seem to want to show the desired level of maturity and discipline, so I believe it might be up to schools to instill some real morals and values that the kids aren't getting home.

Originally posted by SpectreDC
I say nay to the nanny state.

Parents and teachers will do EVERYTHING to blame anything but themselves for their own failings.

Spectre, you touched on a very good point. I think it is moreso the parents than many teachers, unfortunately. It would be so easy to blame teacher for student shortcomings, but in reality education starts at home with the parents. I didn't have a computer, much less the internet when I was growing up. The internet didn't officially launch until 1996 or 1997, and I only got the internet after my parents talked about it for months. They were in my life, concerned about my studies, and wouldn't let me do things if I didn't get the grades. Now, I don't think grades mean crap, but that's another topic for another day. The point I'm trying to make is that education starts at home, and not in the schools. A friend of mine is a kindergarten teacher, and she has had kids come in that did not know how to properly use the bathroom, that did not know how to tie their shoes, and could not read. I was reading at the age of 3, as were most of my friends. This was 2 years before I got to kindergarten. Parents need to start bucking up and stop blaming us (the educators) for their own offspring's shortcomings, just like I said before.

With all that being said, I still think that there are many teachers that go in to get a paycheck and go home, and could care less about how the kids do. This goes especially for the ones that have been in the profession for 20+ years. Some are still as dedicated as the first day they walked into a classroom, but sadly, most are only concerned with the amount of money they make (which is pale in comparison to the amount that Congressmen's aids make, so nobody better make the argument that teachers make too much money). These teachers should be kicked, and younger, more flexible, and more inspiring teachers should be hired with the same protection that their elders receive.

Anyway, I am completely off topic at this point, so I'm done.


Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

I personally don't believe that children should be on sites like that, and I do understand the principal's concern. However that is a decision for the child's parents to make.

I think it's fine for the principal to deny access to sites like that on the schools computers, but that's as far as it goes. Outside of school parents should have the final say so over what their children are allowed to do.

It would be nice if facebook and other sites like them would voluntarily restrict access to people 18 years old and older.

“Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.”
William Makepeace Thackeray

It really should be up to parents what their children do at home, and honestly I think more parents should be involved with what happens at school. Educators will almost always have the child's best interest at heart, but really, would they even have to make these kinds of suggestions etc.. if parents were MORE involved in the schools? I'm not saying all parents aren't, but many have the attitude "My taxes pay them to do this" ummmm.... not. Our taxes pay them to do the job, and if we the parents wont tell them how we want things handled, they will do their best. If you don't like it, get involved.

This quote reflects my opinion of the social networks and kids:

“We should pay as much reverence to youth as we should to age; there are points in which you young folks are altogether our superiors: and I can't help constantly crying out to persons of my own years, when busied about their young people -- leave them alone; don't be always meddling with their affairs, which they can manage for themselves; don't be always insisting upon managing their boats, and putting your oars in the water with theirs.”

William Makepeace Thackeray

Let them have it, but don 't ignore what they do. Stand back and see where they go with it.

Originally posted by truthseeker1984

New Jersey Principal Wants to Keep Middle School Kids Off Facebook -- Do You Agree?

abcnews.go.com

A New Jersey middle school principal is on a campaign to get his students off social networking sites like Facebook.
N.J. principal wants kids' access to sites such as Facebook and MySpace blocked.

Anthony Orsini, of Ridgewood, N.J., believes that the sites do more harm than good -- facilitating bullying and putting kids at risk to online predators.

He said younger and younger children seek to log on every year. While social media used to be limited to eighth-graders and older, Orsini now sees fourth-grade students bullying on Facebook.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Totally agree.
Children should be monitored, mentored and observed closely until they are "adults".
The internet is a dangerous playground. Even on this website, it is easy to see how impressionable children are exposed to some very scary, and not entirely healthy ideas and adults.
Sorry, but it's true.
It is an unnatural environment, and children should be kept on a leash until they are old enough to be considered responsible adults.
Facebook is a totally unnatural relational environment. It does nothing for building relationship skills, creating strong personalities, or teaching kids how to interact in person, (Where Life Is)!

Facebook has already been shown to have problems associated with it, and every day people are learning ways to abuse it's freedom and openness.

The entire internet environment, and children having total freedom to roam in it, is basically one huge experiment. Nobody knows where it will lead, or the long term effects of it's use on children that are literally growing up IN IT.

I, personally, do not want my child to be experimented upon.

Originally posted by UruFist
Totally agree.
Children should be monitored, mentored and observed closely until they are "adults".
The internet is a dangerous playground. Even on this website, it is easy to see how impressionable children are exposed to some very scary, and not entirely healthy ideas and adults.
Sorry, but it's true.
It is an unnatural environment, and children should be kept on a leash until they are old enough to be considered responsible adults.
Facebook is a totally unnatural relational environment. It does nothing for building relationship skills, creating strong personalities, or teaching kids how to interact in person, (Where Life Is)!

Facebook has already been shown to have problems associated with it, and every day people are learning ways to abuse it's freedom and openness.

The entire internet environment, and children having total freedom to roam in it, is basically one huge experiment. Nobody knows where it will lead, or the long term effects of it's use on children that are literally growing up IN IT.

I, personally, do not want my child to be experimented upon.

You make good points, but you also prove the point that parents should be the ones doing this. I think asking parents to do it is okay, but the sad fact is most parents probably don't even realize that their kids have accounts.

My 14 year old, who lives with my ex, has a few e-mail addresses that mom doesn't know about. Why? because she wants a private place to talk to her friends. Why do I know? Because she tells me. Her mother is, in my opinion, too strict. She has complained that her e-mail has been read by mom, and even has found e-mails deleted. I don't have much to say about what goes on in her house, but I do think she is over parenting. It is quite possible that most of these kids are doing the same thing.

On a leash is one thing, on a choke chain is another. Maybe the parents are THAT strict, and the kids have secretly joined? Anything is possible today. I still believe that moderation would be the key.

reply to post by pyrael


Yeah. I mean, of course I wouldn't want to do anything wrong.
I'm surprised that there aren't any studies being done about these issues.

It would be nice to look at some real numbers, effects, abuses, etc.

Tough call.

reply to post by UruFist


Personally, I don't think statistics are all that important in the grand scheme. If a parent watches the news and there is a story about a girl getting raped by an internet predator, wouldn't it make sense that the parent would investigate a bit into what their own kid is doing? If I thought my daughter was talking to people she shouldn't, I'd be hunting info. There are programs you can buy to block access to porn sites, sniffing programs that can not only look for keywords and phrases to alert you to, but can block e-mail or any other contact if the parameters are set to do so. Parents have so many resources at their disposal that they really should take the responsibility and do the work.

I have all the computers in my house ran through a PC set up as a gateway. It blocks sites based upon web-nanny lists that I have found on the net. I don't sniff content, but I could if I thought it necessary. The kids I have in the home aren't old enough to make an account or anything. My oldest in house is almost six, and she still listens when Jumpstart.com tells her to "ask mom or dad to become a jumpstart member today!"

It takes time to set up, and it takes time to maintain. But personally, I'd sell my computers before allowing uncontrolled internet in my home. I see no reason why ANY parent cannot do the same thing.

All the parent has to do is get up the gumption to say "I don't want 'that' happening to my kid!" and start a web search. There are MANY free trials out there, and if you are savvy enough, there are open source programs that are mostly free. Do I think my 14 year old is in harm's way? Heck no. I am her freind on facebook, and if she were talking to a shady character, I'd know it. Besides, she trusts me to the point that I have the username and password to her prepaid phone account. I know (if needed) every call she has made for the last 6 months. Who she text messages etc. so far, I have only accessed her account to add money to the phone for her.

reply to post by pyrael


Yup. I'm with you.
I have a little girl that likes to look up everything from puppies to volcanoes.
So, I did go through everything I needed to do to control what she is doing, protect her, and still let her look at the world, right under my nose.

It took time, and I have to be nearby when she does it, but it worked out.

I control what she views. She is my kid, and that's the way it is. And, right now, I keep the use of the PC as a "social tool" down to an absolute minimum.