Should Schools Ban Facebook?

The story here left out a big piece. Many students are claiming that last year, they were ENCOURAGED to sign up Facebook accounts. Kohl’s had a contest where you could vote for a school on Facebook, and the top 20 schools would get $500,000 each. The school asked parents and students to create Facebook accounts and vote for them.

Now that the contest is over, they’re fining the kids for having Facebook accounts? Crazy!

Why the $100 fine? If the girls get off, that should be sufficient.

Who has the wisdom to know which is better? To be refused admission or expelled and go completely off to join the secular world; or to be immersed in the treif privately and keep an outer appearance of frum? And if the school would not expel, how would they enforce their policy otherwise?

What about the girls who won’t go off because they won’t go on facebook bceuse of this policy?

instead of banning it they shud be open minded and teach their girls the pros and cons and raise girls who know their boundries.

I don’t think schools should have authority over what their students do outside of school. That is their parents’ responsibility.

Zehavasdad: I think you have some serious questions about bans in Yiddishkeit in general? I guess you have a different philosophy on religion or the Jewish religion that is?

Why not Ban travelling to Manhattan.

How about banning riding the Subway.

How about banning visiting such stores as Macy’s

I’m unsure what you are trying to say. It sounds like your argument is, that if schools are going to legislate morality on their students, then they should intrude into every aspect of their lives.

That sounds bizarre. I’m not sure why you would criticize the schools for being responsible and not intruding into every aspect of the students lives.

Unless you are saying that you think going to Macy’s is egregious enough that it is similar to facebook. That is a strange opinion.

i have a Facebook account. as a matter of fact, i have more than one. so, am i in cherem now?? (If i am, that would be great, my cd’s would sell faster :))

Why was it OK for money to encourage the girls to join? It was the same Facebook then

zahavasdad- manyyyyyyyyyyy stories happen from facebook also! and there is tonz of shmutz on there to! it is not acceptable for jewish ppl to be on there

I think the school is perhaps justified, depending on the values projected by the school in the first place; HOWEVER, by telling the girls to open one in the first place they are promoting a double standard. They will only make the girls confused as to what is more important— money or shmiras einayim.

Bad move. They need to pick a position and stick to it. What a great example it would be if they had specifically foregone the contest because it would necessitate Facebook, which seems to be against school hashkafah.

I’m not going to say whether I think Facebook is good or bad, though, just because my own opinions on the subject aren’t entirely developed.

“Ban IT!!! Ban it from all frum homes. It is a major time killler and tool of the Yetzer Hora!! Hefsed schara outweighs its benefits. Stop the bleeding!”

Sounds like you are giving reasons for banning the Coffee Room.

It is absolutely, not the school’s business, as to what the girls do, out side of school hours.

As for the girl who mentioned, this is how she keeps up with her Israeli cousins, whom she doesn’t see too often, [as I read in the Post], she should absolutely use e-mail to keep up with her Israeli cousins, but even I don’t use facebook, as it is far too public. E-mail works just fine.

A lot of good has come out of computers, such as numerous Shiurim over the computer, as well as several succesful Shiduchim over the internet, so how dare anyone banish internet?

Needless to say, after having read today’s Post, I am not sending my daughter to this school, just because of this isssue.

I think that making the rule is okay. The way they are choosing to reinforce that rule is bothering me. Like Middlepath said- I don’t think schools have the right to force their students to act a certain way outside of school hours and property and especially not to threaten the rulebreakers with expulsion.

And if it is true that they asked the students to make an account for the schools benefit, asking them to delete after it is hypocritical and wrong.

147- Who, taught you how, to use, commas.

zdad- Things worse then facebook dont make it good. what problem do you have with a school trying to do what it can for its girls?

first of all how will the school really be able to find them onfacebook? They could easily have fake names ! and besides if the girls want facebook they will find one way or another, i know of plenty of people in ny and lakewood that dont have internet(b/c of skls) go to friends houses and use internet there! If teens want someting they will figure out how to get it! Isnt it better they should be home with parnets there then at a friends house?

So what, once the school made the mistake of having the girls sign up for FB to try to win the contest, they can’t take steps to fix the mistake now that they realize that unfortunately some girls got led astray or are at risk of improper exposure to things on FB? They’re stuck, that’s it, forget fixing it, don’t cry over spilled milk?

While I agree with the poster who says that perhaps they should have refused to try to win the contest since it required joining FB (I myself won’t try to get coupons or other free items for this very reason), now that they did, can’t they retract and say, wait, we just wanted it for this particular reason, we’re not giving a general haskoma to FB, and we don’t want our girls participating in FB because of the problems that it has – including wasting time that should be spent doing homework or helping at home – not to speak of possible connections with people that the girls do not know and her parents have no way to know what she’s developed these connections, and there are some very scary people out there in the world, including people who impersonate other people just to become friends with unsuspecting young people online.

Schools in Lakewood won’t admit students who have a computer in the house, and this is the reality that the parents deal with. A strong parent might have said to his daughter that even in spite of wanting to help the school he doesn’t allow his daughter to make an FB account. Schools and parents should be on the same page as far as educating the children. If the parents do not agree with the restrictions the school establishes, even if it goes against a previous request of the school, they are free to change the girls’ school.

Nechomah- They absolutely do have the right to make the rule, but not to reinforce it with expulsion.

But look at it from the students perspective: The school was willing to have all the girls make Facebook accounts- and they most certainly knew the potential dangers of it- to make some money. And then they say that anyone who does not delete their account will be expelled.

They are showing the girls that they are allowed to compromise their values to make a few bucks. It is simply unfair and hypocritical.

Zahavasdad- I wish I was back in high school but I’m a few years past that. Still abhor hypocracy though.

I agree with cinderella that the hypocrisy that students will see from this can easily have far worse effects than a social networking site.

As I said earlier, schools should not have control over what their students do out of school. I don’t mind if schools block Facebook on their own computers in the computer lab. But it should not be in the school’s power to control what their students do OUT of school. That is what PARENTS are for. Too often, parents will point fingers at the schools for things that they themselves should be responsible for.

Also, I don’t like when people throw blame at objects instead of taking the blame themselves. For example, saying “Facebook is bad, the Internet is evil, etc..” That is just foolish. Everything can be used in a good or bad way. It is US who make that choice. If someone uses Facebook in a bad way, it’s not because Facebook is bad. It’s because the PERSON made the CHOICE to use it in a bad way. The PERSON is to blame, not the OBJECT.