Teachers Should Never Be Facebook Friends With Their Students - Essay Example

 PERSONAL LIFE EXPERIENCE SPEECH OUTLINE Topic: Teachers should never be Facebook friends with their students General purpose: To narrate on an issue of general concern Specific purpose: To offer supportive evidence on why teachers should never be Facebook friends with their students Introduction The use of social media as a means of communication and socialization has been on the rise in the recent past. Many people rely heavily on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, among other channels as a means through which interaction can be ensured across the globe. Despite the fact that Facebook is an open platform of interaction, teachers should not be friends with their students on it due to a number of factors. Body In an effort to ensure respect towards teachers by their students, they should keep their interaction formal and being friends on Facebook does not guarantee that respect. Since the use of social media is regarded as a means of free interaction and expression of a person’s deep interests, it will not be appropriate for both students and teachers to share freely their thoughts. Conclusion As explained in the body of this speech, teachers should ensure that they do not befriend their students on Facebook so that they can maintain their formal relationship. Teachers must find other means of freely interaction with their students besides any social media platforms such as Facebook. Introduction The use of social media as a means of communication and socialization has been on the rise in the recent past. Many people rely heavily on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, among other channels as a means through which interaction can be ensured across the globe. Just as the name suggests, social media platforms are meant for very informal means of communication in which the parties involved can freely share their ideas and thoughts without any form of coercion or fear. Despite the fact that Facebook is an open platform for interaction, teachers should not be friends with their students on it due to a number of factors. I wish to continue with this presentation by first highlighting some of the reasons that have been offered in support of teachers and students being friends on Facebook. This will be followed by factors in support of my view that teachers and students should never be friends on Facebook. Factors in support of students being friends with teachers on Facebook There are many reasons that can be given in support of teachers and students being friends on Facebook. Such include the teachers can have positive influence on the student by hindering them from posting negative things on Facebook out of their respect for them. By having both the teachers and the students interacting among one another on Facebook will make them both careful and cautious over what they post on the Facebook walls. It has been argued that Facebook offers a platform through which the teachers can offer guidance to the students in regard to their class assignments and other questions that the students may wish to ask them. This has mainly been supported by the fact that Facebook allows direct communication through the chat system that ensure instant feedback. Student are able to do well in their classwork if they become close and friendly with their teachers and Facebook can be the best channel to cultivate such level of friendship. This may tend to boost the confidence of the students as they will not fear the teachers in class but will be able to fearlessly engage with them if needed. Facebook offers a means through which the teachers and their students can maintain good relationship even after the end of the course. This will ensure that the mentorship process that had been initiated between them continues to the unforeseeable future thus benefiting the student throughout their lifetime. However, I am still of the opinion that teachers and students should not be friends on Facebook. Factors against students becoming friends with their teachers of Facebook The relationship between the teacher and the student should be guided by the set ethical standards that are based on professionalism. By friending each other on Facebook the teacher will be going against their position of responsibility and undermining their professional respect. The professional respect can only be guarded by professional distance which must exist between the teacher and the student. Facebook offers a very free platform for interaction and either the student or the teacher may share something that may demean their relationship. Since Facebook does not limit what has been shared among certain friends, some personal information of the teacher may be licked out by their close associates and that will not go unnoticed by the student who may begin to develop a different opinion of the teacher. The teachers need to safeguard some aspect of their private lives that should never be made known to the students as failure to that may lead to lack of respect for the teachers by the students. The teacher can find other means of informal interaction with the students such as joining them in sports activities and visiting them at home hence no need for Facebook friendship. By becoming friends on Facebook, both the teacher and the student can easily be subject to indecent relationships. The friendship can easily be mistaken to be beyond the expectations of the society on how the students and the teachers should relate. Parents too can become extremely worried if they find out that their child is having his or her teacher as one of the friends on Facebook. As teachers may be tempted to engage in inappropriate relationships with their students if they keep on seeing some of their photos that personal and provoking. A teacher should never be involved in the personal life of the students and their involvement is best limited to coursework alone. Teachers must come up with other forms of online interactions through which they can respond to questions from the students and not on Facebook. The use of campus portals for students and teachers can best serve as a means of online interaction among students and teachers as opposed to the use of Facebook. Some students are very cunning and may decide to humiliate the teachers by sharing some of their personal stuffs with other students. This may greatly lower the esteem of the teacher and they may have to move to another school as a result of the humiliation. The same can also happen to the students should the teachers decide to act in the similar manner. Conclusion I conclude by affirm my claim that, “Teachers and students should never be friends on Facebook.” The above reasons have offered sufficient evidence as to why this statement should be upheld under any given circumstance. As explained in the body of this speech, teachers should ensure that they do not befriend their students on Facebook so that they can maintain their formal relationship. Teachers must find other means of freely interaction with their students besides any social media platforms such as Facebook. Some of those platforms are as I have stated in the speech. Read More