subject: Liberty And Learning, The Impact Of Facebook On Democracy [print this page] The freedom of individuals to forge their own destinies, speak as they wish and move as they like is the foundation of any democratic society. In one simple but powerful word, liberty, we express the ethos which has been central to our system of government since times forgotten.
So often we hear stories of young people, particularly teenagers, who are a scourge upon society. Drugs, alcohol and violence, we hear, are rife among young people. Yet, teenagers, particularly secondary school students, live in a poverty of liberty. They live lives restrained by teachers, parents and communities, restless to consume the fruits of liberty.
Recently, ten students at Leeming Senior High School were suspended for creating a facebook page critical of a teacher, Robyn Hodgkin. The school principal called this bullying and said that the students "are not really aware of the ramifications and consequences" of such cyber bullying.
Good teachers are often complemented on facebook. Personally, I am a fan of my year eight English teacher, Mr Hutchinson, whose class so profoundly inspired me more than a decade ago. Such websites are a small complemented to teachers who sacrifice so much and are paid so little, but help hundreds of young people rise to greatness.
Likewise, bad teachers should be open to public criticism. The WA teachers union objected to the kids' facebook page, saying that such criticism has a "devastating impact." If a teacher is so unengaging that his or her students band together to publicly criticise them, such a teacher should be dragged before a performance review committee. (But of course, teacher and their unions object to performance-based pay.)
The ten students at Leeming should take their suspension as small cost in the battle for better education and, in some small way, curing the poverty of liberty in young people. They have every right to criticize Robyn Hodgkin, and they should be applauded for having the courage to speak out against poor teaching.
Some would argue that teenagers would criticize a teacher for task-mastering. Yet, any scholar of educational pedagogy would know that, with the right formula, a teacher can challenge students whilst also inspiring them. Hard work can become a pleasure with a good teacher.
This situation goes to the very root of our education system, where school and teachers have sought to treat the symptoms not the disease. Critical facebook groups are a symptom of bad teaching, and we must cure the disease rather than quash one of the few liberties young people have. Like the union-lead outcry against myschool.edu.au and league tables, suspending students for a critical facebook group is merely trying to preserve the status quo.
We can all agree that our education system is not perfect, and that we must strive for improvements. Teacher are interested in preserving their livelihood and their power to restrain the education system. We mustn't allow such self-interest to harm the education of our children, and to stifle progress in the improvement of our education system.
