Should Schools Monitor Students and Staff on Social Media?

When it comes to discussions regarding schools having the right to monitor their students and staff on social media, it's a two-way thing in my opinion, and that's because, on one side, it could be an opportunity to get to know their staff and students probably, giving them a picture of their kind of person and the like, but then, on the other hand, it can be seen as a breach of privacy and an unnecessary intrusion by the school. What do I think about these? And what my stance is on it, find out about that below.

Starting with the positive aspect of school having the ability to monitor their students and staff. One of such opportunities is to know them better beyond what we see on the surface; there are lots of people, be they staff or students, who hardly share what's going on in their private lives with anyone around them, but surprisingly they do post it on social media. In such situations, you can get to come through for them in diverse ways, be it for support, encouragement, or whatever it might be. It can also help discover and contain cyberbullying, be it a student or staff member who is a victim or the perpetrator of such.

It can also go on to improve safety, and that's because monitoring online activities of both staff and students can help discover any threat or danger they might be facing; such monitoring could also go on to prevent violence within the school and discover whoever might want to harm themselves, because with online monitoring, you can quickly see and stop such things from happening and ultimately put the school in a safe place and go on to improve the reputation of the school. We've seen my students who threatened themselves or their teachers online and ultimately went on to work on their threat, but with online monitoring, such students or staff would be brought to book.

Talking about the downside, first on the list is regarding privacy concerns; many people have the belief that their social media is their private life, and monitoring it is more like an infringement of their privacy. Such would also limit how students and staff can freely express themselves because of fear that they're being monitored and their social media posts can be used against them. Still in that light, social media posts by staff and students can be misinterpreted and go on to put such individuals in trouble; meanwhile, such posts could have been posted as jokes, sarcasm, or even old content being used or interpreted out of context.

In conclusion, I believe school having access to monitor both staff's and students' social presence can be a plus in the sense that it can prevent violence, cyberbullying, harassment, discrimination, and the like; however, schools must know their limits and not let it get to a point of intrusion. They should make sure their monitoring is transparent and doesn't go against any available laws on privacy. Ultimately my stance is to find a way to strike a balance.

All photos are mine.