Nowadays, it's all about social networking. Whether it's Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Blogspot, even Edmodo, we are forced to be surrounded by an endless amount of information. From the latest news, to random thoughts, people use these sites to communicate and express themselves. Though, with the increasing dependance on these social networking sites, how much information is really too much? When does one "cross the line" through a computer screen? At what moment does someones opinion become irrelevant and inappropriate?
Considering the events that happened at this Brampton high school, this is a perfect example of the negative side of social networking. Khadijah's comment were in fact rude and inappropriate, but this also ties into the fact of "freedom of speech." In one sense, Khadijah definitely did not want her teacher to see those comments because behind that computer screen, she does understand and respect her teacher's authority. It was her form of expression and venting out her feelings. Letting off steam is good, but doing it on the internet is probably the worst choice anyone could ever do. In fact, this situation can be seen as a form of cyber-bullying. Whether the person is younger, older, taller, skinnier, or a different race, cyber-bullying is cyber-bullying. Khadijah's words, whether truthfully meant or not, were harsh and uncalled for.
As a result of Khadijah's carelessness, she was suspended along with a few others who joined in on her tyrant. I think the school did have a right to do this, but in another case, they did it to protect their reputation. What Khadijah did was very wrong, but suspending her and making her delete those comments from the internet doesn't help the problem. On the other hand, you have bystanders and witnesses who didn't do anything, but isn't that also a form of bullying as well? Standing by to watch when you could do something? And even the people who joined in; no one received as bad of a punishment as Khadijah. Instead, they had categorized and separated the levels of punishment with the students: a couple were suspended for as long as week, others were given a warning and some were demanded to write apology letters. But didn't they all do a similar act? If you were to slap someone of their arm, but meant slap their face, does it make it less worse?What the school did was a practical act, but they should have made an effort to understand the real root of the problem before coming to these hastily made decisions.
The students, in turn, reacted by saying that they should be able to say what they want freely. As a teenager myself, I am sort of conflicted with this situation. I understand that cyber-bullying in any term is unacceptable, but how about an opinion? The way I see it, Khadijah was punished because of her wording and continued teasing. Instead of saying he ate fish sticks all day, what if she just bluntly said that she "didn't like him and he was a bad teacher"? Is that still considering bullying, or is that accepted as an opinion? As well, Khadijah also mentioned that you don't think about those things in the heat of the moment, and that's very true. I've seen people I know online who tweet as if they have no conscience or self-restraint. Whether it's a "subtweet" that is clearly directed towards a person, or even going to the washroom, they send it out for the whole world to see. I think it's alright to post your opinion, or your happening's considering Twitter does in fact ask you " What's Happening?" But crossing the line happens when you tweet without a filter. Even when you have no intentions of hurting the person, there's a likely chance it will still affect them. It should be alright for student to express their perspective, but in turn, have to look at others' as well.
Lesson of the day: think before you speak.
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