Little Brother is Watching You

This post comes a few days after hearing an item on CBC's The Current on the morning of Wed., May 2nd. I tried to post that day but discovered that my blog, The Clothesline, has disappeared. After notifying Google about my issues, I'm awaiting a reply. It seemed easiest to simply create a new blog. Anyway, on to the post:

The current had an item about Face Book. Apparently, a high school student had posted some "notes" about a specific teacher on the website and was "caught". He faced disciplinary action and will not be allowed to go on a field trip to Montreal during the school year. The student and father were interviewed on the radio. The father basically feels that the student should not have been disciplined in this way because he did this in non-school time. The student did admit that what he did was wrong but was unhappy about the action taken. He continues to be a student in this teacher's class and states that he maintains "a low profile". Knowing what teachers are facing every day, I can categorically state that I'm glad to be out of the profession before everyone is "note passing" hatred about their teachers in Face Book.

During the same program I also learned that students are staging situations to anger teacher and forcing the situations to escalate so that they can post to Angry Teachers. com. Someone will video the situation from their cell phone. This is a site that I refuse to look at. However, going in as a substitue or "on call" teacher at my local high school I intend to keep my head up. The school that I get called to has lots of potential for this type of thing, I think. These kids are all wandering around in their hats, their "hoodies", and have access to all kinds of electornic paraphenalia. Would I be surprised to find myself on one of these websites? Not at all. So, teachers, it appears that little brother is watching you and looking for all kinds of opportunities to make sport of it all. Be warned, teachers.