Should Students And Teachers Be Allowed To Be Facebook Friends?

Recently there has been more and more cases of teachers having relationships with their students.  As a parent, I feel that there should be boundaries to prevent these types of relationships.  Like social media, for example.  Should teachers be banned from becoming their student’s Facebook friend?

Teachers are people who are there to teach our children knowledge, confidence, and to make the right decisions.  But what happens when that teacher crosses the lines and wants to be friends outside of school?

That seems to be the trend.  More and more stories are popping up about teachers and students getting involved in a relationship. Yes, grown adults taking advantage of young, impressionable teens.

I started thinking about things to prevent this type of behavior.  Of course the obvious is for a student to never be alone with the teacher outside of school, but what about social media?  Should students be allowed to be friends with their teachers on Facebook?

Facebook is a very popular item with all ages.  You can tell a lot about a person by their profile, pictures, and their comments.  It can be very personal.

I think that students and teachers being friends on Facebook is bad news.  Not only will the students be able to see how their teachers act outside of school, they can gain a personal relationship without anyone knowing.

Now I understand that in some schools it is a requirement to communicate with students through social media, but the school should have a ‘school Facebook page.’  There should absolutely be no reason for a teacher to friend a student on their personal Facebook page.

It is trouble waiting to happen.  Plus, I strongly believe that parents should monitor all social media sites that their children are a part of.  Uninvolved parents are the reason things like this happen.

What do you think?  Should teachers and students be allowed to be Facebook friends?