Social Media in Education

“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.