Facebook Photos Land Eden Prairie Kids in Trouble 626
slim-t writes "The Star Tribune is reporting that students have been disciplined for photos of them on Facebook. 'Eden Prairie High School administrators have reprimanded more than 100 students and suspended some from sports and other extracurricular activities after obtaining Facebook photos of students partying, several students said Tuesday.' Is the school right to do this? My opinion is that the students should know not to post pictures of yourself breaking the law."
I'd just like to know what all those administrators are doing cruising Facebook pages looking at the students in their school.
Isn't it easy? (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe it will be a good lesson to these idiots not to document their wrong-doing.
Let them eat cake (Score:2, Interesting)
Reminds me of this NYT article [nytimes.com] on some George Washington University students who trapped their administration busting parties and had a great time at it as well!
This would seem to aid one of my longtime complaints; namely, that many schools at all levels of education spend far too much money on administrators and not enough on teachers... If they have time to be nosing around students' lives on Facebook, they probably don't have enough real administrative work to do.
Jurisdiction? (Score:2, Interesting)
What the hell, man? I've asked before and I ask again: what the hell gives schools such a wide bullshit jurisdiction?
Re:Rights not online (Score:2, Interesting)
I tend to agree that 21 is too old when 18 is old enough to vote, but this is a really poor example to hold up to argue that point.
My wife is a high school teacher... (Score:5, Interesting)
She doesn't do it because she's out to get them, though. If she learned that a student was smoking weed at a weekend party, it's not like she'd call the cops on them. I think she does it just to get a better sense of who her students are as individuals, and can then better tailor her instructions to each individual.
Let's say Katie is really emotional, and loves to answer questions in class. However, Katie has just gone through a rough breakup with her longtime boyfriend (we learn over myspace)... My wife would be a bit more understanding about why Katie is acting so depressed.
Or, she may learn that a student routinely smokes pot in the bathroom every morning before class. She might pay extra attention to that student, and if she smells pot on the kid while he's in class, she can certainly get the administration involved.
Or kids might comment about a stolen test. Or how they hacked into the computers and changed grades. It's crazy what they'll write about.
The point is, of course, don't put up information that you don't want your boss, teacher/SO/parents/whoever to read.
Posting anonymously for hopefully obvious reasons.
Re:Jurisdiction? (Score:3, Interesting)
Similarly, if the kids had been busted by the police, the police would notify the schools and the kids would be suspended from games. The article does make it sound like the only punishment has been to kids in sports.
When I was in HS, in MN and on a football team, another kid got busted for underage consumption and was suspended for 2 games.
Re:Isn't it easy? (Score:1, Interesting)
Or at least to switch their profiles to "friends only", for their sake and their own.
I wouldn't necessarily be too keen about my own child drinking under age, but I wouldn't be at all happy about his invasion of privacy either - I'd consider that stalking.
If they're too young to drink, they're certainly too young to be snooped on by adults, especially by those in positions of authority to them...
Bizarre (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm guessing this is the consequence of some "traditional" political opinions, much like Sweden insisting on having a state monopoly on alcohol, despite it being quite clearly demonstrated that it does nothing to prevent minors from obtaining it ( which is pretty much the argument in favor ).
Re:My wife is a high school teacher... (Score:5, Interesting)
First, this isn't just a good idea for a teacher... if you want to communicate with someone... be it as a Supervisor, Boss, Teacher... understanding that person as an individual will greatly help you communicate with them and create a rapport that will allow them to trust you as well. As for teaching... it is an incredibly intimate subject, everyone learns differently and you play to each person's strengths and weaknesses to help them learn best. The young boy who loves art might learn from hands on activities more than the girl who sits with her nose in a book and would rather just do rote worksheets to learn.
One of the hardest jobs I ever held was a substitute teacher. As a sub you rarely make those connections with students and you are just a person in the room covering for the teacher... who knows them best. You don't know the kid who lives in a motel room because they are too poor to afford an apartment... and how that might affect his learning. No, I'm sorry, but from my experience you are completely wrong... in fact Schools probably need more of the OPPOSITE... more teachers need to understand their students and their backgrounds. Public Education has its problems that need repair... but needing more teachers detached from their student's personal lives is NOT one of them.
Student need a bill of rights (Score:5, Interesting)
- A fellow fourth grade student was caught possessing a beeper at school. FCPS believed the only reason anyone would possess a beeper would be to facilitate selling drugs. The student was expelled. His mother had given him the beeper the previous day so he would know when she was ready to pick him up from soccer practice. FCPS kept the ban on cell phones and beepers until 9/11, but not before threatening to suspend students who were trying to contact parents who worked in the Pentagon that day.
- A girl at my middle school was caught with a can of pepper spray. Her parents had given her the mace because she lived less than one mile from the school (FCPS does not provide transportation to students less than 1 mi from school) and had to walk through a rough neighborhood each day. She was suspended.
- My school once let out early and had a student fair on the soccer field. Attendance on the field was not mandatory, but students could not leave school grounds without a note from a parent. The administration was so concerned with our attendance that every student who left early had their car fully searched to make sure they weren't taking home other students.
Unfortunately, FCPS holds all bargaining chips before students even enroll. They force each student sign a "Student Responsibilities and Rights" document essentially stating you understand FCPS has the right to deal with you any way they please should you screw up. If you don't sign it, they won't give you a locker, a parking spot, nor allow you to participate in after school activities.If school administrators stumble upon pictures of a student doing something illegal, but not while at school, they should report it to the police, and the buck stops there. If a student's "extra-cirricular" activities don't interfere with school, then schools shouldn't interfere with them.
My Two Cents (Score:5, Interesting)
When I was a teenager, I had a friend who saw the school principal at the grocery store. After making eye contact, he gave him the middle finger. The principal was understandably irate and the following Monday suspended him.
When his parents found out, they called the principal and made it abundantly clear that he was far, far outside his bounds and pushed until the school rescinded the suspension. Don't think he didn't suffer consequences, they were just delivered by his parents whose duty it is to do so outside of school.
The duty of school officials is to discipline and teach students within the school environment. From 8-3 or on school grounds, that's it. Period. The minute the child leaves school grounds, he's under the purview of the law and his guardians. The second school officials leave the school grounds, they're just average folks. No legitimate power over and above any other schmo.
Re:Rights not online (Score:5, Interesting)
Surely you're not telling me the legal drinking age in the US is 21? Hell.. I the worst hangover of my life was the day of my 16th birthday when I could finally drink legally (everyone in this country drinks illegally from about 14). The second worst hangover was at the school party that year where they'd thoughtfully provided free drinks..
You'll never learn to drink responsibly unless you've drunk irresponsibly a few times when you're younger. OTOH I was drinking wine with meals at 7 years old, so was kinda used to it by then.
Re:Hah. (Score:5, Interesting)
A lot of schools have athletic conduct codes (Score:3, Interesting)
Schools... (Score:3, Interesting)
In my sophomore year of high school I was suspended for telling somebody how to open the command prompt. Now, remember, that goes on my permanent record. Not only was I banned from using the computer (which is pretty tough when I'm in C++, Cisco, and Webmaster classes) but it also ruined my chances of getting into certain schools.
I may sound bitter, and what I'm talking about may be considered entirely unrelated but the point I'm trying to get across is that schools look for every opportunity they can to catch kids doing something "bad". Shouldn't they be trying to catch kids doing something good?
The security administrator at my school would ride around the parking lot in a golf cart and check to see if student's cars were unlocked. If they were, he had no problem in allowing himself to search their car. I just could never understand how people stood for this.
These students being suspended for Facebook photos (not smart of them, but the reaction is over-the-top) could very well affect their future. IMO, it's time for people (high school students in this case) to start standing up.
Re:Bizarre (Score:5, Interesting)
"... John D. Rockefeller was not concerned with family dynamics in the working classes. But he was influential in changing the goals of the movement from temperance to prohibition. As we know, his contribution to the outlawing of the production and sale of alcohol was successful. Of course, Rockefeller and the oil companies reaped tremendous profits as a result. Remember that the period covered by the 18th Amendment (1919-1933) coincided with the huge rise in the sale and operation of automobiles. America was on the move, and all of these cars were now operated solely on gasoline. By the time that the 21st Amendment was passed, ending the prohibition of alcohol, the standard was already set and worked completely in the favor of the Rockefeller family" (http://dgrim.blogspot.com/2007/06/great-scheme-alcohol-based-fuels-ford.html)
Rockefeller the leader of Standard Oil wanted to stop the public (mostly farmers at the time) from producing their own alcohol which was widely used as a fuel for cars and farm equipment. This is a pattern to manipulate public opinion and use the government as an enforcement tool to benefit the rich and powerful. See Randolf Hurst, DuPont and hemp prohibition.
simple question (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Bizarre (Score:3, Interesting)
"... John D. Rockefeller was not concerned with family dynamics in the working classes. But he was influential in changing the goals of the movement from temperance to prohibition. As we know, his contribution to the outlawing of the production and sale of alcohol was successful."
1913 - The Federal Income Tax was passed
[Tax revenues from the Federal Income Tax go up]
1920 - 18th Amendment goes into effect
[Great Depression = revenues from the Federal Income Tax go down]
1933 - Prohibition Repealed
The only reason Prohibition made it to the Federal level is because legislators didn't need the tax revenue from alcohol anymore and could afford to pander to the Christian fundamentalists.
Re:Don't they have anything better to do? (Score:5, Interesting)
340A.503 PERSONS UNDER 21; ILLEGAL ACTS.
Subd. 3. Possession. It is unlawful for a person under the age of 21 years to possess any
alcoholic beverage with the intent to consume it at a place other than the household of the person's
parent or guardian...
Here in Georgia, they have been running ads and propaganda about how drinking under 21 is harmful and illegal, including parent's hosting of "drinking parties" for their underage kids. While the laws here are obviously different and still heavily conservative/religiously based (one of 3 states with no sales on Sunday still enforced as a State law, which the governor refuses to repeal (vetoed again last year on the basis that it teaches "time management") ), citing that drinking anytime, any amount before being exactly 21 years old as harmful is ridiculous. Kids will do stupid things, and when I have them, if they want to drink, they will whether I want them to or not. I would rather they do it with supervision of an adult, preferably me. This is about as idiotic as the policy of "stop handing out condoms because it encourages sex" crap. Arresting parents for doing what they are supposed to: monitoring and supervising their kids to keep the stupidity under control, is counter productive. Its also evidently not a state law as identified here [nih.gov], though they sure make it seem that way.
To re-link this thread back to the article, kids do stupid things, but the control of that stupidity is their parent's responsibility. The school really has no right to dig into the non-school activities unless it poses a threat to the school itself. If, as has been said higher up, these activities were reported to the school, the school's responsibility ends at notifying the parents and possibly local authorities (if legal infractions are severe enough: ie property damage).
Enough ranting....
Tm
Re:Isn't it easy? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hah. (Score:3, Interesting)
"I'd see the wisdom of..." (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hah. [[ Supposedly pics were delivered (Score:3, Interesting)