Newspaper staff vote: 22 agree, 3 disagree
Texting.
Tweeting.
Facebook friends.
These are ways students socialize with their friends. But should they do the same with teachers?
No.
School should have a business-like atmosphere between students and teachers, and today’s society has seen a dramatic change in this thinking. School is where we come to learn. Teachers are there to help us learn — they aren’t there to be our “besties.” If a teacher and student are talking, joking or communicating with each other the way two students would, there’s something wrong with that.
According to foxnews. com, at least 40 school districts in the United States have passed laws prohibiting students and teachers from interacting on social media sites — something that should be considered in the Blue Valley School District. The professional learning environment would be substantially restored.
This does not mean students can’t admire a teacher as a person or talk to them outside of class, but there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed. Students’ personal lives and professional lives need to be more separate.
When a teacher and a specific student are in constant communication with one another, there is bound to be a certain bond between the two that other students don’t have with that teacher.
The BV student handbook states a vision for our school is to have “a professional learning community that develops and maintains personal connections between students and teachers.”
So, yes, relationships should be formed with teachers, but only in a professional way.
School may not be fun and interesting all seven hours of the day, but that does not mean you need to try to make it interesting by becoming best friends with your teachers.
The fact of the matter is that school is for learning, even if that’s not necessarily what some students want to be doing.