Essay Sample on Should Teachers Add Students as Friends on Social Media?

📌Category: Education, Entertainment, Interpersonal relationship, Social Media, Sociology
📌Words: 742
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 15 January 2022

Social media use is growing exponentially and is being used in our day to day lives, including at our schools. The rapid growth of social media begs the question, should teachers add students as friends on social media? This question has grown and has led to the jailing of a gymnast teacher in 2017 and can cause extremely inappropriate and unacceptable relationships between teachers and students. The first reason that teachers should not be adding students on social media is that it could lead to inappropriate student-teacher relationships. The second reason that teachers should not add students as friends on social media is that it blurs the line between teacher and student, making the teacher seem equal to the student in the student’s eyes. Teachers should not be able to add students on social media as friends. 

The primary reason revolving around the idea that teachers should not add students on social media as friends is the unacceptable potential for inappropriate relationships to form. In the articles “Is Social Media Causing Inappropriate Teacher-Student Relationships?” Richard Laliberte highlights the fact that the unsupervised digital contact can lead to inappropriate relationships between the teacher and the student. “’It’s allowing them, direct, unsupervised contact beyond the classroom,” says Doug Phillips, an agent who looks into allegations of educator misconduct. “And that’s a very slippery slope.”’ This section from the text illustrates the fact that this contact outside of school is not a good thing, referred to as a “very slippery slope,” In the book “Talking to Strangers” by Malcom Gladwell, he mentions reference to a gymnast doctor that became too close to the gymnasts that he was helping. He added them on social media and illegally acquired many inappropriate images. Teachers should not be able to add students as friends on social media, for it allows the potential of inappropriate relationships to grow exponentially and at an alarming rate. 

The second reason that teachers should not add students on social media as friends is that it shifts the view of the hierarchy in schools. Students start to view teachers as equals to themselves, which is not the case in schools. Teachers should be looked up to with respect and dignity. When a student adds a teacher as a friend on social media, this act adds the mentality that they are becoming friends. The student-teacher relationship should not be this way. In “Is Social Media Causing Inappropriate Teacher-Student Relationships?” Richard Laliberte extensively goes over this idea saying, “But the incident clearly illustrates how social media has infiltrated our schools, blurring boundaries between students and instructors,” (the incident gone over in this section of text is referring to a time when a teacher contacted a school counselor because a student jokingly put “I feel like ending my life,” on social media) Some schools have “outlawed student-teacher Facebook friendships,” Students and teachers should not be friends on social media because it changes the relationship between the student and teacher to be something that isn’t professional. 

Many people claim that adding students on social media is an effective way for teachers to communicate with them and that it increases their bond. In the article “Student-Teacher Social Media Restrictions Get Mixed Reactions,” Ryan Lytle solidifies the point that there are obvious benefits to social media use of teachers, especially when it comes to adding students as friends. “Limiting this communication [social media] hinders the teacher’s ability to learn more about a student and form a bond... He thinks that we should be teaching teachers and students how to use it [social media] together.” It may form a bond, but this bond can grow to be inappropriate very quickly. Even if it isn‘t a super strong bond it can still lead to students seeing teachers as equal to themselves. If we remove social media from the equation this will not have to happen in schools. In “Is Social media Causing Inappropriate Teacher-Student Relationships?” Richard Laliberte highlights the idea that it is a valuable way to instantly connect with students. “...but also, as valuable tools to engage, motivate and even excite them... teachers can post thought-provoking questions about in-class topics for kids to respond to,” There are many other ways to engage students, however. Social media is a dangerous way to do so and can lead to inappropriate relationships. 

Students should not add teachers as friends on social media. Doing so can lead to highly inappropriate relationships between students and teachers and lead to the eventual firing of the teacher. This can also make teachers seem like best friends to students, which is not acceptable in a learning environment. We should limit and restrict the adding of teachers as friends on social media for students, as well as the other way around. This would have a large positive impact on schools and the environment they contain.

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