Teacher-Student Relationships Via Social Media

Citations

• "Should Students Be Able to Interact with Their Teachers via

Social Networking Sites?" Debate.org. Debate.org, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

• Grisham, Lori. "Teachers, Students and Social Media: Where

Is the Line?" USA Today. Gannett, 09 Apr. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.

• "The Big List: Female Teachers with Students." WND. WND,

27 Jan. 2015. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.

• Fechter, Joshua. "27% Increase of Inappropriate Student

teacher Relationship Investigations in Texas." San Antonio Express-News. San Antonio Express-News, 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

• Smith, S. E. "Why Teachers Shouldn't Be Friends with Their

Students on Facebook." The Daily Dot. N.p., 09 Jan. 2015. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

• "Texas Ranks No. 1 in Inappropriate Student-teacher

Relationships." KHOU. KHOU, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.

• Bacon-Blood, Littice. "Social Media Seen as 'huge Driver' of

Inappropriate Teacher-student Relationships." NOLA. NOLA, 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.

Emotional Attachment

Prompt:

Is it appropriate for students and teachers to be friends on social media?

"What if a student's favorite teacher moves away? The student might want to keep in touch with them."

One of the main issues regarding inappropriate teacher-student relationships is that the teacher is in a position of power over the student. In legal terms, they are in a relationship of academic supervision. James Lester Quigley (a 34-year-old teacher at Richardson High School) was convicted of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student. He offered her good grades in exchange for sex. The teacher has a certain amount of power over the student that allows them to bribe or blackmail the student into having a sexual relationship with them. However, if both consenting parties are over the age of 18, and no longer is a relationship of academic supervision, then it is fine for them to interact via social media and even pursue a sexual or romantic relationship.

James Lester Quigley is facing 40 years in prison for his offenses.

Our Stance:

It is not appropriate for students and teachers to be friends on social media.

Improved Communication

Teaching Tools

The Snapchat Incident

In 2014, a 57-year-old Connecticut soccer coach Snapchatted a sexually graphic video of himself to his entire female junior soccer team, horrifying students with the unwanted and graphic footage. However, he later claimed that the video was meant for his girlfriend. Whether or not this was really an accident has yet to be seen. Either way, it is a prime example of teacher-student interaction through social media going terribly (and disgustingly) wrong.

"Social media improves communication between teachers and students."

The risks outweigh the benefits of such an arrangement. "The problem is that social media gives teachers anytime, completely private electronic access to children," stated Terry Abbott, the head of a Houston-based PR firm and ex-chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Education. His firm has recently been tracking news media reports of inappropriate teacher-student interactions, and their findings have shed light on the increasingly dire situation. Texas leads the nation in inappropriate teacher-student relationships, with an astonishing 27% increase since 2013. Many of these relationships began online. Additionally, students and teachers do not need social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate. Websites such as Edmodo allow students and teachers to communicate through the Internet in a professional setting.

"What if teachers want to use social media as a teaching tool?"

As mentioned before, there are efficient alternatives to social media platforms (i.e. Facebook and Twitter). Websites such as Edmodo (which already has 47 million users) allow teachers and students to interact in a social media-like setting without the risk factor. This "risk factor" is the strong possibility of an inappropriate teacher-student relationship stimulated by online interaction. The largest causative agent of this risk is private messaging, which is available on almost every social media site. Also, websites like Edmodo are specifically designed to aid student-teacher communication in a classroom-like setting.

CONCLUSION

A Rare Occasion

The Connection

"The chances of an inappropriate teacher-student relationship happening are small; it rarely happens."

This is untrue. There are were 179 cases reported in 2014 in Texas alone, which means that there are approximately three incidents occurring every week. Also, these are only those who were caught. There could be hundreds of other cases that remain unseen by the law. One of the high profile cases was that of Brittni Colleps, a 28-year-old mother of three and former teacher at Kennedale High School. She was accused of having sex with five students in her home--at the same time. One of the students filmed the event on his phone, and this footage was the definitive proof that convicted Colleps. According to the students' testimonies, the entire inappropriate interaction began through text messages and private chats on Facebook.

"What if the teacher and student want to be friends on a completely platonic level?"

Therein lies the core of the counterargument. The relationship between a student and a teacher should be strictly professional. Certainly, the teacher and student are allowed to be courteous and friendly towards one another, but social media is utilized to share personal information about one's life. The term "social media" itself connotes a personal friendship or relationship between two or more people over the internet. A teacher does not need to see a student's vanilla latte on Instagram in order to teach them physics. Likewise, a student does not need to see a teacher's drunken bachelor party in order to understand the Pythagorean Theorem.

Brittni Colleps is facing 20 years in prison.

Teacher-Student Relationships Via Social Media

Aynne Espinal, Dima Rashid, Giles Fitzwilliams, Jesus Monroy

THANK YOU!