Schools Should be Allowed to Watch Students’ Twitters

By Connor Loughran ’15 – Pro

Today we live in the age of the internet, where social networking dominates many of our actual social lives. Social networks provide a barrier between people that makes us feel safer with the things we say. But what we think is private, actually isn’t.

Ever since kids started using social networks, the question has been asked: Can schools look at what students post? And this question seems to be re-appearing nearly every day, whether it be in the news, through rumor, or, ironically enough, through social networks. So far, most schools have refrained from watching “friend request” based networks, such as Myspace and Facebook. But then there is the very popular micro-blog Twitter. Twitter allows anyone to see someone’s 140 character post, or “Tweet,” without a request.

But this has led to a controversy: Just because anyone can look at a Twitter, should schools be allowed to? The answer, simply, is yes. Schools should have the right to view the tweets of any student, because Twitter does not have a mandatory privacy feature.  Another reason that schools should be allowed to view a student’s Twitter is because the posts may have something to do with school. Whether the posts are about benign topics, like whose clothes were better, or who was having a bad hair day, sometimes more important tweets arise, such as a student threatening another student, or extremely harmful rumors, or even about fights. It is important for school officials to be able to know if students are in danger or if they are breaking the rules.

The issue of privacy is addressed by the Terms of Service for Twitter. It states  that, “You are responsible for your use of the Services, for any Content you post to the Services, and for any consequences thereof. The Content you submit, post, or display will be able to be viewed by other users of the Services and through third party services and websites.” Additionally,  the Terms of Service even warn, “You should only provide Content that you are comfortable sharing with others under these Terms.”
So schools should and technically are allowed to watch the Twitters of any and all students. That said, be careful what you post, because you never know who might be reading it and what consequences it might bring.

Administration Should Stop Invading Students Privacy on Twitter

By Christina Kolanowski ’15 – Con

At Sherwood the administration is allowed to monitor students’ Twitters and give punishments to students whose tweets are seen as “inappropriate”.  Over the past two years, students have been called to the office to be lectured or even disciplined with detentions or phone calls home about having inappropriate posts on Twitter.  Whether intentionally or not, this makes students feel that school administrators are going out of their way to search Twitter.

After a student was spoken to about on inappropriate tweet that the school was notified about, she then found out the school starter to monitor her Twitter even after the problem was resolved.  This is an invasion of privacy.

Twitter is simply a network students use for entertainment, or to let out their emotions.  High school students have a great deal of stress in their lives and Twitter can be an outlet for that stress.  The school should lay off and should have more important concerns than worrying about what students tweet.

In addition to the administration just “looking” at Twitters, they also punish students.  For example, last year a student received a phone call home to her parents saying the student had tweeted about how she disliked school.  There is no rule against freedom of speech.    It is not the school’s job to punish students because they dislike tweets, but the parents of a student to deal with that situation.  If students are getting punished in school, it should be for concrete events that actually happen in the school itself.  The staff should respect the privacy of students.  They should give them the freedom to be teenagers.

There are a few situations when it is understandable for administration to investigate students’ Twitter lives.  An example of this would be if a student is being threatened with violence.  Only in rare situations like this should school administrators monitor students’ person Twitter accounts.