“Each time a teacher tells students that what they care
about the most, what makes them curious and passionate outside of school, does
not belong in the classroom, that teacher also delivers another message: What
teachers care about and what is mandated by educational standards have little
or nothing to do with learners’ activities once the school bell rings” (Losh
& Jenkins, 2012).
This quote from the article Can Public Education Coexist With
Participatory Culture? summarizes my
thoughts about the use of social media not only in public education, but in education
in general. I believe that among the purposes of education are teaching
children to inquire about their world, make sense out of it, and think for
themselves. Educators usually agree that the most effective ways of teaching
students these skills are real-life and hands-on experiences. Therefore, if social
media is part of the students’ everyday life, it must be included in their education.
Nowadays, social media is one of
the most powerful sources of information. The article claims that “online
communities have become powerful sites of informal learning” (Losh &
Jenkins, 2012). If social media is such a rich source of information, why not
take advantage of it in the classroom? Unfortunately, even though social media
is widely used by the youth, young people do not always “engage with activities
that are meaningful for their personal growth and development” (Losh &
Jenkins, 2012). In order to prevent students from acting inappropriately when
using new media, schools usually implement laws and regulations that mandate “that
schools be cut off from potentially subversive content on the Web” (Losh &
Jenkins, 2012). The authors of the article argue that instead of just blocking
content and avoiding students to freely explore the Web, schools should
“integrate digital media into their instruction” and have the school librarian “advise
their students about safe and ethical engagement with the online world” (Losh
& Jenkins, 2012).
I agree with the authors that
educators should not completely rely in blocking content to assure that
students are safe from bad content and usage of social media. Rather, they
should teach children how to use social media in a way that will benefit them.
However, I disagree with them in that I do not think that students should learn
how to access, process, and manipulate information obtained from social media
from the school librarian only. On the contrary, children should be able to see
this behavior modeled and promoted by every educator they have.
