re. Pupils punished over Facebook comments

(letter as submitted)
As a graduate of the Ontario public school system who plans on a future teaching career at a Canadian university, I am deeply disturbed by the encroaching powers of the school system over the Internet, as reflected in the recent suspensions of students at Willowbrook Public School, Birchmount Park Collegiate, and elsewhere.

Regardless of the "inappropriateness" of students' comments on Facebook.com, the fact is that students always have and always will vent about and make fun of teachers and other authority figures that make them feel low, just as newspapers such as The Star publish political cartoons and workers lampoon bosses like Michael Scott of The Office.

This is not "bullying," but rather a typical response to a situation of power imbalance.

If teachers want to prevent students from saying potentially hurtful things about them, the solution is not to become Thought Police, but rather better teachers who treat students with fairness and respect. Such teachers rarely get made fun of; even when they do, many students will stand up for them against the disgruntled few.

If you don't like what students are saying on Facebook.com, then get a Facebook account and participate in the dialogue. But school administrators have no right to expel or suspend students for online conversations that are conducted off school premises and after school hours, just as they have no right to censor and punish the same conversations that have always taken place in the streets, parks, shopping malls, and hockey arenas.

Jeff Denis, Toronto