Should schools teach social media skills?
By Aarti Shahani, KQED-TV
Taking selfies at funerals. Tagging pictures of teens drinking alcohol at parties. Kids (and adults for that matter) post a lot of silly stuff online — and although most of it is chatter, some of what might seem harmless leads to tragic consequences. But is it the job of schools to teach kids the dos and don’ts of social media?
At Lincoln High School in San Francisco’s Sunset district, counselor Ian Enriquez teaches students three very big words: “Disinhibition, reputation, anonymity.”
Enriquez is using a curriculum created by the non-profit Common Sense Media, a media watchdog group for parents that also offers resources for teachers.
Like many schools throughout the country, Bay Area schools hold workshops on cyberbullying, but don’t have uniform practices for teaching social media etiquette beyond that. While teachers use platforms like Facebook as a tool to engage students in learning, ongoing instruction on digital citizenship itself is the exception, not the rule.
Enriquez, who counsels students on health, racism, homophobia, and other topics that aren’t purely academic, believes the district should institute a mandatory social media curriculum.
Dennis Kelly, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, the local teachers union, says teachers are already drowning in work — especially now with Common Core. While social media is important, Kelly says, so are other things. “All students should learn to swim, but should it be school’s responsibility to teach them swimming?”
NO, teach them how to use a pen and write, one of these days all this technology and social media will be gone and all there will be are pencils and paper left. Social media will hopefully go away as fast as it arrived.
Our technology is only going to get more exciting, it is not going away. As an “always will be a teacher” person, I think it’s important to teach our youth early the responsibility that comes along with their devices. Not that I like seeing younger kids with smart phones, it is what it is. Kids need to be taught early, along with their parents, the power of the written word and the lasting impression that has. When seeking a job, many employers do their best to check sites to see what the youth before them has posted. Keeping yourself and personal information safe with phones and computers is another whole aspect and let’s face it, parents aren’t equipped to teach it properly for the simple fact, it’s ever changing. Etiquette is also important. Just at Christmas Eve service I felt obligated to give a young lady “the stink eye” as she was texting during the service. I will chime in with the previous comment about the need for pencil and paper. As a notary I can’t tell you how many times clients remark, “It’s been a long time since I signed my name.” Oh well!
Social media is a waste of time, too many people dont even know how to interact with another person. Society gives them an OK to be unable to interact and we all just shrug our shoulders when kids walk around with things attatched to their ears or stareing at their device. And dont get me started on the driving distractions. Its just another thing to have and get sucked into. I definately dont want the schools involved in having my son wasteing his time learning how to text. And yet here I sit involved in social media ….
No. Teachers have enough to do. “Social media skills” should be taught by parents.