Schools getting into kid's business

[K9soul]

I'm sure that you did not hear it correctly. They can and SHOULD delete anything off of myspace that is done during school hours on school property.

I was thinking that as well. They could not just randomly go in and delete someone's Myspace seeing how they don't run the site. Only you have access to your pw for your account, and myspace themselves (and how would they know your account name to begin with, if you were never on it at school?). That's like saying a someone could come in and delete my account or my posts here at Pet Talk. Only me, someone who knows my pw, or Karen/Paul can do that. If you are caught on it at school, they may be able to if you are logged in then.

I also think the dangers of myspace and sites like it SHOULD be explained. A lot of weird stalkers and predators use sites like that to find information on people. Not all kids may realize that and are not careful with what pictures and information they post.

Just an adult's perspective

[lady_zana]

And also, anything you post on Myspace (or Facebook) is like posting it on a sign in the center of town for anyone to see.

I recently graduated from a college that had an absolute-no-alcohol policy. It didn't matter if you were 21 - it was a completely dry campus.

There was several uproars over people getting caught with having alcohol in their rooms or underage drinking - how were they caught? By having their pictures on Myspace and Facebook.

A lot of these students complained - they said it was "cheating" that they got in trouble without actually getting caught but the truth is, webspace is pretty much public domain. Anyone can see what you post if you don't set it to private.

Basically, if you think it would be a bad idea to stand on the busiest street in your town holding a sign declaring which party you went to or what you did there, there's a pretty good chance that posting it on myspace is a bad idea as well.

[JenBKR]

I think it's good that your school had an assembly talking about the negatives of myspace. I think that many kids post way too much private info about themselves, and there are many kids who have gotten into some trouble because of that. There are too many predators out there. However, I don't see how they could delete your whole myspace account, I would think that they would need your password for that. Maybe just block you from using it at school?

[IRescue452]

To me myspace is just a personalized forum with all your friends. You do what you do on there, but don't blame myspace for the behavior of certain people. And during school hours when kids have acess to computers without supervision, they can go anywhere on the internet, not just myspace.

[jackie]

Isn't there an age limit on myspace?

I think if a teacher sees and underage student with a myspace account, they can report the account and myspace admin will delete it themselves.

I agree that some people put WAY too much info on myspace/facebook/bebo etc. It grosses me out bigtime to see a 15, or even a 25 yearold girl with loads of pics of everything hanging out. Those sites are a magnet to perverts.

[sparks19]

While schools should certainly block access to certain sites while on school property.... why are they doing a parents job? If the child is engaging in acts that are not allowed at school or that the school thinks are dangerous.... why aren't they contacting the parents to express their concerns?

It is not the schools place to delete things on a students account (even though I do not think they could do so anyway since the sites ARE password protected) nor should the teachers be expected to do that. They are teachers... not babysitters or parents. If the teachers suspects a problem or has some concerns the parents should be contacted. BUT.... inappropriate sites should be blocked from school computers.

[moosmom]

Mugsy,

VERY well said.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

While schools should certainly block access to certain sites while on school property.... why are they doing a parents job? If the child is engaging in acts that are not allowed at school or that the school thinks are dangerous.... why aren't they contacting the parents to express their concerns?

It is not the schools place to delete things on a students account (even though I do not think they could do so anyway since the sites ARE password protected) nor should the teachers be expected to do that. They are teachers... not babysitters or parents. If the teachers suspects a problem or has some concerns the parents should be contacted. BUT.... inappropriate sites should be blocked from school computers.

Actually, it is a teacher's job, in many cases to act "in loco parentis," or in place of parents. Teachers and schools have many rights while they are in charge of children, and certainly blocking a questionable web page falls within those rights while children are at school.

Maltese_Love, perhaps it seems like the school is invading your personal space- I can understand how that would make you upset. But just think, what if schools didn't care at all? Things would be a lot worse- for example, teachers are mandatory child abuse reporters- what if they didn't report that? What if they just let children have their "privacy" and left well enough alone? Schools and teachers are responsible for children for at least 7 hours a day. It's their job to make sure kids are safe, and if myspace is a threat, then they are doing what they should to keep everyone safe.