"Of course, students engage in malicious and hurtful online and offline behavior toward their peers even more frequently than they rage against their teachers."
I'm not sure how I feel about this quote. In general, I understand that students will likely be in many more situations that would involve a student bashing a peer rather than a teacher, however I also feel like this statement might lead one to infer that students who engage in behavior derogatory towards teachers are likely to engage in such behavior even more often with their peers.
I will admit, I wasn't a great student in high school, as I have admitted in previous blog postings. I rebelled against classroom restrains and confines, questioning my superiors and always challenging the leadership. There were times when, in limited amounts, my peers and I would slander teachers online, though such things did not receive nearly as much attention as they do today. I think that students do these types of these more often as a stress relief or as a way to create a beacon for their frustration rather than because the students actually have malicious intent. I suppose the question to ask is where is the line drawn between what is appropriate and inappropriate, and what type of action constitutes dangerous ground for students.
One of my teachers was complained about in online groups REPEATEDLY by a large number of students. Our thoughts were often dismissed because of the profanity we used, and because many students had extremely vivid and colorful insults listed in regard to the teacher and his behavior. A few parents backed us, but mostly we were disciplined for our actions. This teacher was fired for misconduct a couple of years after I graduated, and is one of the most sexist and racist individuals I have ever met that is in a position of influence. I think that, because our complaints as students fell into a category that is defined as "disruptive behavior," our words were not taken seriously.
"There are healthy and unhealthy ways to acquire social power. Unfortunately, among some teen boys and young men, one quick and easy way to gain social power is to watch or create a drinking video."
I wanted to post this quote in the spirit of the moment, as I will be attending the WVU game tomorrow and I fully expect it to be an atmosphere of drunken dumbassery. But to draw from it, I want to follow a parallel. Remember the ice bucket challenge? How many people that posted social media videos actually gave a damn about the charitable cause, but rather were more interested in the social power to be gained from the video? On a more humorous note, I will point out that no one really gave a damn about your average ice bucket challenge video (lets be honest, we all got the point), and we only looked for dramatic failures. How much of what we see on social media has nothing to do with anything displayed in the video, instead having everything to do with the sought after "social power?" Ponder that.
"Learning to live responsibly when it comes to online communication is a process."
I want to use this quote to draw attention to the "Gamergate" scandal, as I think it is something people should be aware of. It is actually a very good topic to tie together the previous chapter and the current, as it deals with internet communication as well as sexism in media, all revolving around online gaming journalism.
It involves:
A breakdown in communication and facts
Falsified or out-of-context online images to promote a point
Sexism backlash in the form of doxxing
Utter internet chaos.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/gamergate
It is a good example of the fact that many people feel empowered by the anonymity created by using the internet. Using the internet and media responsibly isn't just about the content you access, but also how you treat others. An extreme case would be "doxxing," which is when a hacker discloses personal information of someone online, presumably so that other people can lead personal attacks against that person. It needs to be known that online aggressive, just like physical aggressive, is something that cannot be tolerated and has no place in our culture.
Great quotes! The first quote I thought was enlightening and should go to show that we should help students more with their freedom of speech. In your case I think that if we can instruct students the proper way to convey their concerns to the public they will have more power with their words, even if it is against a teacher. Overall they know the teachers better than the other staff members because they spend the most amount of time with them and know how they really operate.
ReplyDeleteYour first quote brought to mind a conversation I just had this week with an 19 year old freshman who was telling me about this great app she had, called Yik Yak. It was the first I heard of it so I asked some questions about how it worked. She explained it as an anonymous Twitter feed that was specific to the area you were physically in and as new posts were added and voted on, the older and unpopular ones dropped off. I was interested enough to look it up later and read that the founder intended it to be used as a way for users to connect with those directly around them, like a virtual bulletin board. It sounds like a breeding ground for trouble to me because what the user now has in their hand is the power of destruction. I cannot fathom how someone could create something without realizing that the potential it’d have in allowing users to anonymously post about other people in the vicinity; another way to “engage in malicious and hurtful online and offline behavior towards their peers.” Although I admit that the fault doesn’t really lie with the creator but in the behavior of the users.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I’m glad that you brought up the ice bucket challenge in relation to social power. It solidified a connection that I’d been contemplating between online behaviors, especially in regards to social media, and the impetus for it. Something that people do a lot is post status updates that are addressed to a person that will never read them; they’re to the person that cut them off in traffic, someone that has passed away, or a child that isn’t even born yet. While I realize that their behavior really doesn’t have anything to do with me, it still irks me. Now I can recognize them for what they partially are - an attempt at gaining some social power.
I totally got sucked into reading about GamerGate. I never heard of doxxing before, but now I can't stop thinking about how terrifying that must be for the victims. It's a shame that people act so maliciously toward each other under anonymity. I think this serves as a great reminder that not only do we need to stay on top of what our students/children are doing on the internet, but we should also focus on teaching empathy by encouraging just as many real world social interactions and getting them away from screens and game consoles.
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