The extent of the internet in schools.
Using the internet is common in various settings. This practice is even more pervasive in public schools across the United States. Nowadays, most students have access to the Internet via gadgets or other forms of technologies. It may not be surprising that students are very active on social media.
The question is how this trend could be detrimental to students. Arguably, allowing student free internet access is the perfect way for them to misbehave in complete impunity. There had been plenty of cases, which suggest this is precisely how students have misused the cyberspace.
Failure to intervene.
In recent years, there had been an increase in online-related incidents. School officials have intervened in a handful of them. Some schools have adopted policies designed to contain student online misconducts.
School officials have a tendency to engage in hasty intervention practices. The problem is that they do not always investigate the matter adequately before intervening. As a result, they are likely to assess harsh punishments to the perpetrator or the student (or students) involved. Other times, school heads do not intervene at all.
A lack of intervention in online incidents could also have irreversible consequences. In recent years, for instance, several students committed suicide because they experienced online bullying. Most times, school officials knew of the incident. However, they did little or nothing to stop the aggression.
Serious implications.
Are there serious implications to consider in online interventions? I would say yes. But what could they be?
A few consequences for intervening in online incidents are worthy of note here. Some of them are legal. Others are administrative. Some of the most salient concerns include reluctance to intervene, blaming the courts, and a lack of clear policy. We will explore them in subsequent posts.
