I totally knew that watching all those chick flicks would come in handy someday.
Check this out!
Looks familiar? You got that right! It’s the Mean Girls! How about this?
So how many of you out there has ever felt victimised by Regina George on social media? – Mean Girls Reference –
*almost everyone raised their hands*
I KNOW that I am not alone when I say that there are certain moments in my life when I just want to scream out loud some pretty mean stuff.
Well, now you can!
Social media allows you to do just that! *just kidding, don’t do it.*
I once mentioned that everything that is posted online, stays online. Allow me to share with you 2 cases where people who hold educational posts shared their private thoughts on their social media accounts and the difference in the degree of punishment.
Ding ding ding!
Ms Vinita Hegwood, teacher at Duncanville High School, was found guilty of sending racists tweets on 11th November 14 from her personal twitter account (Gallman, 2014). Her contract with the school was terminated as of 8th December 14 (Eowyn, 2014).
Ms Krista Hodges, teacher at Newark Memorial High School, was found to have tweeted insulting statements about her students and exposed by her colleague to the principal and she was simply given a written reprimand as her punishment (Bland, 2014).
Both are teachers (or just Ms Krista as Ms Vinita was fired) who were found guilty of behaviour unbefitting of educators and yet only one of them lost their job. Why?
This boils down to the code of ethics. There are many things in the world that are clearly black and white. Ethics, on the hand, is a whole big area of GRAY. Some organisations do ensure that their employees adhere by a standard code of ethics, and yet some don’t. I mentioned here previously about being true to one’s self and having to let your employers know the real you.
Well, so how much of the real you should you actually show to avoid this?
Social media has proven to be extremely informational and influential (Weaver, 2014). Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I say both.
Educators like Krista and Vinita have the opportunity to bring learning out of the traditional classrooms and arouse students’ interest in learning, instead they chose to do otherwise. Here, you can find an example of a code of ethics for registered teachers in New Zealand (New Zealand Teachers Council, 2014). Under the clause of Commitment to society, you can find this. “Teachers are vested by the public with trust and responsibility, together with an expectation that they will help prepare students for life in society in the broadest sense.” If only this set of Code of Ethics applies to all educators, huh?
All educational establishments need to understand that by having an unspecified or unenforced Code of Ethics, they are guilty of contributing to the corruption of the young minds in our society.
And they told me that chick flicks are for bimbos. HAH!
On a side note, do check out the video below about how teachers can benefit from social media!
References
Bland, M. (2014). Racist Teacher Bashes Kids On Twitter, Unbelievably Manages To Keep Her Job. [online] Mommyish. Available at: http://www.mommyish.com/2014/08/28/racist-teacher-on-twitter-not-fired/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2014].
Eowyn, D. (2014). Texas school teacher to whites who disagree about Ferguson: “Kill yourselves”. [online] Fellowship of the Minds. Available at: http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2014/11/11/texas-school-teacher-to-whites-who-disagree-about-ferguson-kill-yourselves/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2014].
Fox2now.com, (2014). Vinita Hegwood | FOX2now.com. [online] Available at: http://fox2now.com/tag/vinita-hegwood/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2014].
Gallman, S. (2014). Texas teacher suspended after racist Ferguson tweet. [online] CNN. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/11/us/dallas-teacher-suspended-ferguson-tweet/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2014].
Middles, M. (2014). Teacher who tweets she wants to ‘stab some kids’ let off with verbal warning. [online] mirror. Available at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/teacher-who-tweets-wants-stab-4146853 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2014].
New Zealand Teachers Council, (2014). Code of Ethics for Registered Teachers in New Zealand. [online] Teacherscouncil.govt.nz. Available at: http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/required/ethics/codeofethics.stm [Accessed 5 Dec. 2014].
Nose, T. (2014). Mean Girls. [image] Available at: https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tychosnose.com%2Fget-in-loser-we-are-doing-calculus%2F&ei=9ceBVO2nOMS6uASLx4LoBQ&psig=AFQjCNHEFhWMLJxt-HhDOmYL9ut4ZvBglQ&ust=1417877475211280 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2014].
Weaver, L. (2014). The impact of social media. [online] Phys.org. Available at: http://phys.org/news/2014-09-impact-social-media.html [Accessed 5 Dec. 2014].
Life as I see it. 
Hey Evan!
First up, how the hell do you come up with such intriguing and eye catching post day after day? Don’t get me wrong, it’s crazy, wonderful and I love it! (Insert thumbs up here)
Jokes aside, I love what you wrote about social media ethics and education.
The whole lesson about what happens on the web, stays on the web is very true. It reminds me very much of your online identity and how important it is to Google yourself.
From your post I realise morality plays an important factor in the way you handle your social media uses. Using social media to insult people, especially those under your charge, is extremely detrimental to your reputation.
I also agree that social media is indeed influential and informational. Skill users of social media platforms really do have the ability to persuade the opinions of the public!
Overall, a really insightful post especially from the education point of view! I feel that raging on social media platforms has become so common and acceptable, people tend to push certain boundaries on these platforms that must never be push on any kind of platforms at all.
We tend to forget ourselves and suffer the consequences.
Cheers!
Van
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Hey Van!
Thank you for your compliments!
I am glad that you enjoyed my post for this topic and understood my point on morality being a crucial factor when using social media.
Regards,
Evan
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Hi Evan!
What a nice illustration about Mean Girls you have there!
I do agree with you that social media is informational and influential. It mostly the word of mouth that spreads the fastest and social media is the fastest way to do it in today’s world. I’m surprised that Krista only got a written reprimand as her punishment! That’s so unfair to others who got sacked! Something more should have been done.
Well, relating back to Topic 2, with all these ethics being mentioned and that these two teachers are not ethical in their doings, do you think that these teachers should two different sets of online identities? Should their privatise their private profile so that a certain few would not be able to see their tweets?
Hope to hear from you soon!
Cheers,
Aetiiqcaz
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Hey Aet!
I am glad you liked it!
And yes, I was trying to show how varying organisational culture and code of ethics could result in such different penalties.
Personally, I feel that it would not matter if they had different sets of online identities as their opinions would not change. I do believe that who you are as a person would translate into your actions. Thus, it would be a matter of time before they expressed their opinions in real life and still be penalised for it. I found an example of this and you can find it here.
Also, I mentioned here in my previous post, that anything that is uploaded online is never truly gone. As such, I believe that keeping their social profiles private would not matter much.
My only recommendation is for them would be to try to learn to differentiate when to express their opinions and when to keep it to themselves, considering the implication that they are in a teaching profession where students look up and try to model themselves after them.
Regards,
Evan
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Hi Evan! I was drawn to your blog the moment I saw mean girls because that is my absolute favourite! Ha! I saw some interesting insights here because my entry was almost but not really similar relating to the ethics of social media as an education tool. In my entry, I talked about how students cyber bully teachers through social media while yours talk about how teachers misuse social media to commit cyber crimes! I’m surprised by this because teachers are supposed to be the educator of the next generation. Instead of doing the right thing and be a good role model, the example of two teachers are are definitely gonna ruin the reputation of educators.
So just a question, since teachers are supposed to watch their behaviour online and offline, does it mean they do not have freedom of speech?
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Hey Sylvia!
Yay! Glad to know that you liked my angle. Your post really hit home with me as I used to be a preschool teacher. Had any of my students done any of the things that was done to those teachers, I would have been devastated.
With regards to your question, I would not go that far to say that they do not have freedom of speech. Instead, I would say that they should know when to exercise discretion and when to let loose. However, due to the nature of their profession, they still have to maintain a certain kind of public image online and offline.
So yes, I would say they do have freedom of speech but they will also have to know that all actions have consequences and make the right decisions.
Regards,
Evan
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Hi Evan!
I would like to tell you that you article have taken my attention from the very beginning. Your introduction made me interested to read more.
I find it very interesting that you highlighted the point “educational establishments need to understand that by having an unspecified or unenforced Code of Ethics, they are guilty of contributing to the corruption of the young minds in our society.”
With the advancement of technology and evolving social attribute, it is important that children should be educated as early as possible about the impact that social media might have. But the question would be how early?
Knowing that you graduated with a Diploma in Early Childhood Education, you could perhaps give me some insight on this question.
Looking forward to your reply 🙂
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Hey Weiseong!
Thank you for reading my post!
Wow, that is a tough one. I would attempt to answer this as professionally as I can. The imparting of knowledge, also known as education, itself is also something that is constantly evolving, much like technology and social media. For example, we used to have only ink and paper instead of online storage, thus all archives existed as hard copies. Now, almost everything can be documented and accessed online from all over the world.
With regards to how early children should be exposed to technology and social media, I would say as early as possible. This may be controversial and bear in mind, I speak only for myself and not of any organisation that I worked for. We were taught that everything should be done in moderation. I believe that applies to exposure to technology too.
I am not saying to go all out and let your children play all day and all night on their digital gadgets, I am saying to let them know of such devices and give them the opportunity to be familiar and get comfortable with using these gadgets. Children from the digital age should not be deprived of the available resources that is available. It was the same for the children that came before the rise of technology. They, too, were not deprived of the resources available in front of them.
I hope this answers your question! Free feel to share your thoughts too.
Regards,
Evan
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Hi Evan! It’s a really interesting post about ethics behaviour. I like the way how you actually relate Mean Girls to the current topic on Ethics. I think the reason why some of us want to voice out some really mean stuff is because of the self-righteousness that we have within us, won’t you agree? I do agree that it’s rather unfair for both teachers who have posted negative tweets yet received different treatments for both cases. You mentioned that some organisations ensure that their employees adhere by a standard code of ethics while others do not. What do you think are some of the possible reasons that organisations do not require or have a standard code of ethics for their employees to follow? Since we are talking about the educational factor, you might want to response in terms of the educational side. However, you are also welcome to talk about the other sectors. How would you then advice to such organisations about the needs of having a standard code of ethics to follow then?
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Hey Wen Hui!
It’s great to hear from you again! Yes, I do agree that sometimes, our self-righteousness gets ahead of ourselves. Indeed, it does appear unfair for both management to handle cases of similar nature so differently.
Yes, I did mention that some organisations do enforce a certain code of ethics while some had it but do not enforce it. In my opinion, there is a possibility that certain companies do not have a code of ethics as they did not expect employee that they screened to display any unethical behaviour.
If that happens, I would advise that the management quickly refer to the Public Sector’s Code of Ethics and draft one for their own company for their employees to adhere to. Lapses in ethical judgement and behaviour are often unpredictable, as such it is extremely important for organisations be pre-emptive.
Regards,
Evan
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Hey Evan!
I’m pleased with how you illustrated the issue with “mean girls”! It’s true that sometimes we wanted to scream our frustration out, and online made it even easier by just one click and “dang”, it’s up there, the thought, the feelings, the emotions. However, I think one should hold responsibility in control negative emotion spread especially people with educational posts like teachers. They should be aware of their online appearance and the idea of “no privacy online” that you mentioned.
It is very interesting that Ms Hegwood and Ms Hodges experience different consequences from posting insulting tweets that greatly impact the school’s reputation. Besides the part where code of ethics play in affecting the institution’s decision and action, do you think that cultural factor plays a part too? To what extent do they affect the decision of the institutions?
I look forward to your reply!
Thanks.
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Hi Daphne!
Yes, I do believe that culture does a part in the decision-making decision. Everyone’s beliefs and morality is built through their experiences. As such, upbringing does play a part to in influencing how a person would judge what is right and wrong.
The extent of which culture influences an institution’s decision would vary from situation. For example, an international institution versus a small-town rural institution. Management from these institutions would have different varying ideas of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable, thus affecting their decisions as a whole.
I hope I answered your question.
Regards,
Evan
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Hey evan!
I must agree on the first part that social media has created an outlet for many to vent their emotions not realising that what they post online has a stronger effect and impact as compared to what they would face if they did it in person.
After watching the video you posted, it is clear that there are both really good and bad uses of social media in the teaching aspects of things. So i guess we need to ask ourselves what are we doing to ensure we make the most out of the positive impacts of social media and reduce the negative consequences of it?
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Hi Ebrahim,
Thanks for reading my post!
Yes, we have to embrace that with great influencing power comes great responsibility and that it is important that we consider the consequences of our actions before acting on them.
Regards,
Evan
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A pritvcaoove insight! Just what we need!
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