Teen sexting continues to be a huge problem throughout the United States, and officials in New York City are finding ways to discourage high schoolers from sending explicit images of themselves through their cell phones. What is their latest proposal? Suspending or expelling teens who sext or cyberbully other students...even if they do it off campus or during summer break.
Under the Department of Education's proposal, sexting could result to a 90-day suspension for the offending students. The consequences for cyberbullying could range from a parent-teacher conference to expulsion.
Although their intentions are good, the NYC Department of Education would be overstepping its boundaries by punishing students for what they do in their own homes or off campus. It doesn't make sense for school officials to punish the students unless they bring the graphic photos with them on campus or send the images while they're in school.
Parents should be responsible for their kids when class is out, not school officials. If school officials are concerned about sexting, they can update their sex education curriculum and explain the consequences of the act to students. For instance, most teens have no idea that sexting is considered child pornography, which could lead to a felony conviction. If they are aware of the serious consequences, they might think twice before creating and sending the graphic images.
What are your thoughts?
Comments
"A complete and utter waste of time" summarizes my thoughts fairly well.
Also, how are they going to find out students are sexting? They'd have to read through a students stored phone messages, which surely must be considered private property, even if on school grounds, yes?
The kids are not going to think twice about anything, no matter how much information you throw at them. They're kids.
Agreed that the school has no business punishing students for what's done outside of school, but schools should simply ban cell phones from being on campus period. End of story.
Anyway, "sexting" isn't the main issue here; it's cyberbullying. But off campus, that's the realm of the parents.
So what are they gonna do after we get the Big One and Cyber attacked, and no more computing, use Homing Pigeons?
I agree with moneda and Bridget mostly (I'm not so sure entirely banning cell phones on campus is a good thing, but regardless), this is not an issue that the school should be concerned with, and for that matter nor should the city in my opinion. I think what the students do privately should remain private (Although under control by the parents to an extent), and really there is no harm in sexting and other such acts unless the students are careless.
You're all looking at this from ONE side
1. why are schools getting involved? BECAUSE PARENTS ARE NOT!! Blame the parents for not giving kids the simple moral compass to know not to take a naked picture and send it to someone over a phone! picture taking devices have been around for a LONG time... but right now the number of kids taking nude pictures of themselves has skyrocketed. A change in technology? Barely – it's kids being kids without parents giving a crap.
2. Why are schools punishing off-campus activity? Because at some point you can BE SURE those pictures will be viewed/traded/sent on phones during school hours. so, if the school can punish the people who are – literally – trading child pornography in school... why should they not be able to go after the source, regardless of when it happened? If one student is ruining another student's life off campus, and it trickles on campus, the schools should have every right to step in.
Ridiculous.
"Moral compass", "child pornography", "cyberbullying". Let me give you the 'OTHER SIDE'. The problem has nothing to do with pornography or lacking moral responsibility, the problem are the people themselves. First of all, the DoE is completely out of line and - like ana said - should rather focus on their own business. Introducing current matters to sex ed would help the problem more than a simple ban - banning alcohol wasn't the solution for alcoholics either.. Secondly, the problem doesn't start with parents, it starts much earlier - actually, it's more like an endless cycle. Those parents, who're obviously overwhelmed with the trials and errors of raising a child, were once kids themselves who probably received poor parenting, aswell. Seeing as how i have only 211 characters left, i'll make it short:
Implement a psychology class in the school curriculum.
This would help the kids AND the future parents, possibly breaking this cycle of dumbing down americans.
Ridiculous.
"Moral compass", "child pornography", "cyberbullying". Let me give you the 'OTHER SIDE'. The problem has nothing to do with pornography or lacking moral responsibility, the problem are the people themselves. First of all, the DoE is completely out of line and - like ana said - should rather focus on their own business. Introducing current matters to sex ed would help the problem more than a simple ban - banning alcohol wasn't the solution for alcoholics either.. Secondly, the problem doesn't start with parents, it starts much earlier - actually, it's more like an endless cycle. Those parents, who're obviously overwhelmed with the trials and errors of raising a child, were once kids themselves who probably received poor parenting, aswell. Seeing as how i have only 211 characters left, i'll make it short:
Implement a psychology class in the school curriculum.
This would help the kids AND the future parents, possibly breaking this cycle of dumbing down americans.
My solution? Install cell phone scramblers on EVERY school campus so you can't make or receive calls, text, or surf the internet with your phone. Sure, it would mean teachers could not use their phones either, but if they need to make a call, they can go to the teacher's lounge. And if kids need to make a call, they can do so from the pay phone during their lunch break. And if parents need to call their kids, they can call the office and have a message sent to the student if it is an actual EMERGENCY. Too much crap to distract the kids AND TEACHERS now, meaning less time to actually LEARN something!
I'm 42, graduated high school in 1986. Didn't need a phone in school then (because we were supposed to be LEARNING), you don't need them now. The school campus should be a 100% CELLPHONE FREE ZONE. They get caught with it at school, it gets confiscated and returned AT THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR.
Make sure the parents know by signing an agreement at the beginning of the year.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!