Facebookphilia

When they make a movie about how a social network system came to be, then you know it has taken over the very fabric of our lives. Facebook is everywhere, and like anything, it can be used for productive healthy interactions or it can be used for shady dealings.

In New York, several educators lost their jobs for inappropriate behaviour with students which, in some form, involved the use of Facebook. In the New York Post article, Teachers fired for flirting on Facebook with students, it calls for the education boards to make policies governing social networking between teachers and students. Talk about chucking out the baby with the bath water.

These adults acted inappropriately not because of Facebook. They were simply caught because of it. They used this online network to prey on the young, but calling for a ban of its use by all teachers because "you have too many teachers who won't think this out" is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of teachers who are not pedophiles and will not prey on their students, with or without Facebook.

School papers, teams and clubs have Facebook pages to communicate events, practices, rehearsals, and scheduling. Teachers use Facebook as extensions to novels, as homework clubs, as ways to obtain missing work.

I use blogs for this purpose, but I have a handful of former students as friends on Facebook, at their request. They sometimes reach out to tell me about what they're doing in their lives, how their university experience in going, when they can visit their alma mater. But other than that, I hardly hear from them. The last thing they want or need is to hang out with their former teacher. They just want to keep a part of their high school experience with them a little longer, and they feel secure having an adult they trust be available to them.

I consider it an honor.

And one day, when they graduate, get their first job, find their soul mate, get married, have their kids, I will learn about it, and be happy for them. These handful won't have gone into the vacuum of life, but be a part of mine in some small way.

Do I deserve to lose my job?

If an adult preys on a young person for any reason, especially sexual, they deserve all the wrath that society has to dole out. However, I find it insulting that just because I happen to share a profession with them, I have to be reprimanded and treated like an imbecile. I find it insulting that just because I have a connection with students beyond the classroom, that I would be suspect of wrongdoing. They are like my children. According to the Education Act, I am their in loco parentis (in place of a parent) and I take this sacred task seriously.

When parents are caught abusing their children, is there a public outcry to remove all children from their parents' care?

We have to decide what kind of society we live in. Do we let the criminal element determine how everyone should be treated? Do we label everyone who happens to share the gender, or race, or family tree the same as them? Or do we use all the available adults at our disposal, parents, teachers, pediatricians, day care workers, cross guards, coaches and club advisors as a team of people looking after our young, protecting them against the likes of  those who would put them in harm's way? I think we all know the answer to that.

And it's time we stop burying our Facebook in the sand.

It's Not a Crime...

It's not a crime to be grumpy. If you decide to go to the corner store in your pajamas make sure you accessorize, and try not to do so in broad daylight...

It's not a crime to be angry. If you're going to express it, paint on campus might be the best way. You can call it art and not collateral damage.

It's not a crime to be disappointed. Sometimes shit happens, and we're left with the clean-up. Use gloves.

It's not a crime to be sad. If someone says there's no reason and to cheer up; tell them to walk a day in your pajamas!

It's not a crime to be selfish. Sometimes. There are limits. If you find yourself eying some random kid's candy, it's time for some yoga; and if anything was made for pajamas, yoga's it!

It's not a crime to want more. Focus on more success rather than more ice cream. One pays the bills, the other creates them.

It's not a crime to be jealous. Use it as a motivator to achieve the things that are lacking in your life. If you find yourself contemplating a hit man, then it's time to seek therapy.

It's not a crime to not like someone. As long as you can live with the fact that it's probably mutual, and move on.

It's not a crime being different. We live on the planet Earth, not planet Stepford. Whether we like it or not, we are all different. Some might be better at hiding it, but I say flaunt it! Just  don't go into traffic court in said pajamas. They have the power to put you away...

There are many things in the world that are crimes, like killing endangered species, or being cruel to others, or making people who have nothing useful to contribute into celebrities and leaders; being human is not one of them.

:)