A Newton North High School senior has proposed a bill to allow access to Facebook on school computers to the Student Faculty Administration, the Newtonite reports.
In one of the bill’s sections Grigoli writes, “Facebook’s ‘newsfeed’ has become the newspaper of today’s youth.” Grigoli references the Kony 2012 campaign, saying that its growth was rapidly disseminated online and quickly became a viral video much as a result of its spread on Facebook.
More importantly, Grigoli wrote, is the fact that many students depend on Facebook for educational purposes, including sending messages and helping each other out through Facebook’s “inbox” and “groups” features.
Grigoli wrote that using Facebook makes communicating much easier than using email, because finding a fellow student on Facebook is much easier than finding his or her email address, and students often check Facebook more often than they check their email accounts.
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I have to admit, I would be lost without the news that I get on Twitter from all of the newspapers, journalists and politicos I follow. And, I have to admit, when I found one of my kids on Facebook last night while doing “homework,” I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Facebook page on the screen linked to various articles about a particular research topic. On the other hand, I can also waste an awful lot of time browsing my FBF’s lolcats posts (“I can has Cheezburger?”) when I am on Facebook.
I get a lot of my news through friends’ FB posts, especially relating to my particular interests in special ed, science/math, and some interesting international news from friends in other countries.
Schools blocking students from using advantageous technology!
Seriously, what more need be said?
Hi Kids — Third party proxy sites are FREE and EASY!
As far as I know Village14.com isn’t blocked. It would be nice to hear from some students on this. Perhaps you could post a comment during chemistry class tomorrow?
Hahahaha… nice try kid. Get back to work.
I understand where you’re coming from Ed. After all we don’t want to raise a bunch of kids to grow up thinking it’s OK to spend their work day on blogs and other forms of social media.
Exactly!
Wait…
@Ed– I know you’re only joking around, but I’m not going to let you get away with it, because your attempt at humor is demeaning to the student.
I know Lucia Grigoli. Coached her in basketball. She’s an exceptionally bright and articulate young woman, who has identified an impediment to the educational experience. Lucia is not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes here. She is trying to fix this problem through the process established by her school. Her effort is praiseworthy, and she does not deserve to made fun of.
Sorry Mike but I kind of agree with what Ed said. And it was funny.
I admire the young lady for making an attempt to advocate for what she believes in. I just think it’s a huge stretch to say that Facebook is “educational”. I might even grant that there may be a few students who might actually use it for the purposes Lucia notes but the reality is that 99% of the kids will be Facebook chatting with friends. Lets be honest here…
@Whole Truth– I don’t use Facebook, so I’m not intimately familiar with it’s capabilities. But I do know that Facebook is used as a platform for group learning. I also know that our schools need to use more technology, not less. Nearly every high school kid carries a mobile phone, and there are rules in place about those. Why ban Facebook entirely, rather than establish rules for its’ use?
Obviously Lucia is not the only one who sees the potential benefit. The article says there are faculty members who support it. Social sciences teacher, Ty Vignone, is quoted in the article as saying, “Philosophically, intellectually and legally, I support this bill.” Are you suggesting the faculty members who support unblocking Facebook are wrong?
@Mike,
Yes.
Mike, I agree with TheWholeTruth. I think its a given that the vast majority of all Facebook activity in any school will be completely unconnected with education.
@Mike: Facebook can be completely random and distracting (just like this blog!). And of course you can “like” Village 14 on Facebook as well. OK, shameless plug over.
Jerry, I have to disagree. While a certain amount of goofing off is likely to occur, as the father of a sophomore, senior and a graduate of NNHS, and knowing a lot of their classmates and their families, I am continually impressed at how thoughtful, diligent and intelligent the high school students at North are. A couple of months ago, I went to the Library Commons at North and met the students who had put together a technological tour de force using iPads. I don’t think that allowing NNHS students access to Facebook in school is any worse than allowing a bunch of adults to blog about it while they should be working on more important things. 😉 But if it turns out to be a problem, the Student Faculty Administration can always revisit the issue.
@Ted:
Do adults really do that? Where?
@Greg, I just friended one of those places. Vicarious shameless plug complete.
@Whole Truth– Gotta give you credit for that straightforward response. I disagree with you though. I’m in Ted’s camp on this one. I don’t use Facebook myself, but I watch my daughter [a sophomore at South] use it very effectively for homework. She tells me that NSHS blocks Facebook too, but they don’t block Twitter. Of course the cell service at South is so bad, they don’t have to block that. This debate has got me kind of wondering… How do local private schools handle this Facebook issue? Anyone know the answer to that?
Mike, I am really into the social media. Which is probably why my kids no longer think it is cool. Seriously, though, for better or worse, this is the way people share news today. (NB I am old enough to remember listening in on the “party line” to get the latest gossip, which was the extent of the social media back then.)
@Mike,
Thanks. I am often direct and to the point. I just simply do not believe the use of Facebook is appropriate in the schools. I am all for the advancement of technology but sometimes nothing can replace a simple book to read or an essay to write. I would really like it if kids could learn how to form a real sentence using words spelled completely and correctly. Call me old fashioned if you will. Facebook is great, a lot of fun, and keeps you connected with family and friends. It’s called “social” media for a reason.
@TWT, human beings are social animals. That is how we roll. Since the dawn of time, culture has been passed on through social interaction: songs, stories, theater. FB is just another tool for passing along information, no more, no less.
…and blogs! How could I forget blogs?
Ted
My point exactly 😉
@Jerry, got ya. I am slow. But I am thorough.
I’m sticking with this thread because I deplore censorship, and this is really bugging me. I think this would be an entirely different debate if blocking Facebook was a current proposal rather than something already being done. That leads me to wonder a few things…
HOW do private schools in the area handle Facebook?
WHO made this decision to block Facebook in our two public high schools?
WHERE does a public school get the legal authority to block a web site?
@Mike,
I admire your “dog to the bone” desire to continue this thread. But sometimes, it really is okay for people to disagree with you, or an idea, or a premise. We all have a right to our own opinions and there are a few of us here who simply disagree with the idea of unblocking Facebook in the schools. I do however question your decision making on this when you clearly state you do not use Facebook. It makes me wonder how up to speed you really are on all that Facebook is, and is not. Do not confuse my comments as criticism, it’s just my observation. We can agree to disagree without beating the horse to death.
@Whole Truth– Absolutely, I welcome disagreement and think debate on issues of importance is a positive thing. And of course any aspect of our children’s education is important. My experience with Facebook is limited to watching my daughter use it as a learning tool during homework sessions. So my position on this subject [Facebook in schools], is based almost entirely on that perspective. I view it as a learning tool.
Mike-To say that FB is primarily a learning tool is simply inaccurate. You really need more information about its general use. Helping kids complete HW is not its primary goal (and I might add that this is an understatement).
I disagree with my friend Mike when it comes to the censorship part of his argument. We are talking about children and the boundaries of the school day. Facebook maybe a tool for education ( and I’m stressing the ‘maybe’ part) after hours but during school hours, kids need to be off cell phones and off facebook. It is, first and foremost, social to kids. No distractions is the best policy within school hours. They can still get facebook on their cell phones in between periods. No need for it during school.
I’ll bet you a steak dinner than absolutely no pupil’s GPA increases as a result of the school opening up facebook on school computers.
Short answer: no.
Our kids rely upon Facebook, Twitter and the ever present texting as a primary means of communication. In relying so heavily upon technology as a method of transmission, there’s reason to be concerned that our kids are missing out on opportunities to develop and practice interpersonal communications skills and social pragmatics. Our ability to communicate with each other is one of the things that makes us uniquely human. And yet, everyone who engages in on-line communication has surely had the experience where a comment was misunderstood or misconstrued because our on-line communications lack the inflection, the nuance and the nonverbal components of communication. For the brief six hours kids are at school I do not think it unreasonable to require them to practice Face-to-Face communication, rather than Face to Facebook.
PS: I tried to post my thoughts yesterday, but Village14 thought I was a “Spam bot”. I am not. I don’t even like Spam. Not even a little, nor a lot.
@Jane– I’m not suggesting Facebook [in its’ entirety] is primarily a learning tool. I understand there are many uses. But it is undeniably in part a learning tool. The initiative supporting it’s accessibility points out specific reasons why it would be helpful to students. That bill was written by a student, and I believe one of the failings of our system [at the high school level in particular] is that we do not solicit more feedback from our students about the educational experience and process. To me, it’s like going to an arrogant doctor who asks no questions of the patient, and assumes his/her diagnostic ability alone is sufficient.
@Kim– I readily admit that the censorship issue is the weakest part of MY argument. I believe it’s a valid point, but it stems from a sensitivity of mine, and is not an issue raised by the student proposed initiative. I don’t believe that specific initiative is calling for uncontrolled use of Facebook during school. And I do believe there should be some rules regarding it’s use, much as there are rules governing the use of cell phones at inappropriate times during the school day. But I think it’s a mistake to block [and therefore entirely limit] something that has proven to be an educational tool. Limit its’ use? Certainly! Remove it entirely from the toolbox? I think that’s foolish. It reminds me of a time when calculators we’re viewed as an impediment to learning, and their use banned from school.
FB is first and foremost social media – with the emphasis on “social”. When a student uses a school computer to access FB for social purposes, other students can’t use that computer to do research, complete assignments, etc. There’s nothing wrong with FB, but NPS doesn’t have enough computers in the schools to accommodate their use as social media, nor is there enough staff to make sure that FB is used as a learning tool. In times of limited resources, the schools need to make choices as to how to use technology and staff most efficiently and effectively.
@Mike, I am familiar with Facebook chat and, in that limited context that you describe, I can see how it can be a learning tool. It’s certainly possible to have a group of your friends online at the same time contributing thoughts and exchanging ideas contemporaneously, and I would suggest that is the very purpose of group chat. When people are in different places, at different times I can certainly appreciate it’s utility. However, when a group of people are available in the same place, at the same time (and we have to approach this issue with the presumption that students are logging into Facebook when they are free and not during class time), what is the impediment that prevents these kids from exchanging ideas, communicating with each other and participating in interpersonal communication without Facebook?
I understand the utility of Facebook when kids are at home, but when they are at school and not constrained to the classroom, access to social networking means that they have unstructured time and an opportunity to engage with their peers in direct communication. Why is computer facilitated communication better than direct interpersonal communication?
Lisap– I’m not suggesting that computer facilitated communication is better than direct interpersonal communication. I don’t see this as an either/or situation. I think you’re anchoring your perspective to the idea that “a group of people are available in the same place, at the same time.” If that were the case I’d probably agree with you. But just because students are in the same school doesn’t mean they’re in the same “place.” Both high schools are large. Student downtime is minimal. I would think purely from an efficiency standpoint, electronic communication would be advantageous to those looking to make the most of their time.
The proposals author, Lucia Grigoli, emphasized the “newsfeed” feature, superior communication [to traditional email], and the group function of Facebook as being helpful to her. That sounds like a pretty good argument to me. The Newtonite article includes comments from another student supporting Lucia’s perspective. It also appears that some faculty members support unblocking Facebook. I’ve kind of dragged my own arguments [ha, and baggage] into the fray to support the proposal. But I think Lucia makes a stronger case without my help.
To be completely transparent, Mike’s daughter and my daughter absolutely do homework together on line using both facebook and iChat.
I am a former Newton resident and soon to be one again. Our school here in the Netherlands just released FB to the kids. Interestingly, 70% of faculty voted for it while only 50% of the students supported it. I have heard so many kids jumped on that it dragged down the network… We did a lot of research into this and one comment that resonated with me was:
teachers should be encouraging students to extricate themselves from all the electronic gadgetry and to pay attention. You know, expand their capacity for patience and thoughtful consideration. How can they be twittering their thoughts on something that they’re not paying attention to? And they’re not. Nor are they learning how to interact well with other people, unless this teacher foresees a brave new world where people never actually talk to each other. Children need an alternative to the seduction of technology, not adults pandering to it, and them.
School is a place for young people to learn how to be with others working out problems and every day life. I don’t believe that the NEWSFEED feature is the best tool for kids in school… it is a highly curated, self-chosen stream of news. Why not continue visiting sites? CHAT should not be used in classes, energy should be spent on what the teacher is supposed to be teaching. Teachers should not have to monitor FB in their own classrooms in the event kids “abuse” the right to use FB.