Maybe it’s just me, but this next one just seems like such an obvious no-no that it’s practically slapping me in the face. Jeffrey Spanierman, a high school english teacher in Connecticut, didn’t have his contract renewed a few years back, after a school guidance counselor discovered he had created a MySpace account and started friending students. After some time, he had posted some pictures on his profile that apparently had naked men in them (?!) and “inappropriate comments” like the following:
Spanierman: “Repko and Ashley sittin in a tree. K I S S I N G. 1st comes love then comes marriage. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL”
Student: “dont be jealous cuase you cant get any lol
“
Spanierman: “What makes you think I want any? I’m not jealous. I just like to have fun and goof on you guys. If you don’t like it. Kiss my brass! LMAO”
There’s an argument to be made about what this means for future teacher-student relationships as technology progresses, as ars technica points out. But I just think it’s a no-brainer. Social networking sites lead to very, very casual contact and conversations. And if teachers and students (especially when they sometimes aren’t too far apart in age) are talking on the internet and forming closer relationships, inappropriate stuff can and does happen. I’m all for teachers having close relationships with their students, and I’m not saying teachers shouldn’t have contact with students outside of class. But come on, man…use your head here. At the end of the day, you’re still the teacher, and they’re still the students. And not only that, this is on the internet for all to see; it’s not exactly discreet.
However, my favorite part of all this comes in the lawsuit that Spanierman filed against the school. In it, the judge gave a downright hilarious, professorial description of internet speak:
The judge notes in a footnote to his ruling that “spelling and grammatical rules are not always closely followed in such casual or informal online exchanges, and that oftentimes certain phrases are abbreviated or expressed in a form of shorthand [e.g., 'LOL' can mean 'laughing out loud,' and 'LMAO' can mean 'laughing my ass off'].”
Tee hee. But in all seriousness, this was bound to happen at some point. It leads me to wonder, to some degree, to what extent teachers will be able to take advantage of advancing internet technology with their students. Some of this could really benefit classroom discussion and interaction…but it can also lead to inappropriate contact. And bad poetry about the Iraq war.
The damage is done. No Where [sic] to run.
The sand and sun aren’t any fun.
They rain down all day in the fields where soldiers lay [sic].
Their firearms held tightly.
Their steps fall lightly.
They watch for the enemy.
A man, woman or child they see.
He could be any of the three.
In houses they go hoping bombs won’t explode.
For war of revenge that has no end.
If you ask me, the quality of that poetry is enough to convince the school district not to renew the guy’s contract. Yikes. But in any case, with new technology comes new rules. We’re going to be wading through the ramifications for a while, but some things are just plainly obvious. After all, if you were a teacher, do you think saying any of the above things would be appropriate? Hell no. And MySpace doesn’t make it so.
MySpace profiles send teacher to unemployment line, court [ars technica]
