Photo Source: Sonia Belviso (CC-BY)
According to a report by NBC Connecticut, two students, a junior and a sophomore at West Haven High School, have been expelled over written threats posted to Twitter. Authorities disclosed that teachers had found the tweets earlier this month.
The junior’s tweets regard placing a bomb in a locker, while the sophomore, independent from the previous case, is said to have written about shooting himself and other students.
The students both claimed to not have meant anything more than making a joke, and when their homes were searched, no weapons were found. Despite this, the deed has been done; both students have already been arrested and expelled because of their careless Twitter activity.
The article posted by NBC Connecticut fueled a lot of discussion. One commenter to this article very clearly disagrees with the measures taken by the police, saying “Way Way to far! These are just kids, and kids say stupid stuff. Searching homes, felony charges… come on, who are we afraid of now? Kids? How many times has a kid said “Man, I wish my school would burn down.” Or “Arggg, I hate her sooooo much I could kill her” etc. etc. We are reacting to extreme instances in the past and making them the perceived norm.”
Another counters, “I say bust ’em to the max. These are NOT topics to be joking around with.”
The controversy arises because what we believe are our rights and our responsibilities of being a digital citizen do not necessarily always come into agreement.
We know we have a right to the freedom of speech. However, we know we also have an equal responsibility to use that freedom in a way that is sensible, one that we can hold ourselves accountable to.
We are aware of this balance in the offline world. Why does it change when we go online?
The internet is a place where our words linger longer than we do; it is the nature of the beast. Why test those constructs by publishing words there that we know might come back to bite us? Is it worth it? Why don’t we think more about the consequences of our actions? Why are we so quick to throw away our notions of citizenship when we go online?
What do you think? What does it truly mean to be a digital citizen?
I think that if a CREDIBLE threat is made that action should be taken. If a kid says online “Damn, I’m sick and tired of Mrs.Teacher I wish I could go bomb her house” if that child is found with like a pipe and some gunpowder, go ahead, throw the book at them. But if nothing is found just count it as threatening. If it happens again with the same child than give them required therapy.
Great point, Reid. I think that’s where the centre of the debate lies- credibility. But how credible exactly is anything we put on the Internet? With that ambiguity, can we afford to take these kinds of risks?
A similar story: Students expelled in New England a month ago after racist Tweets regarding Washington Capitals Game 7 game-winning goal scorer Joel Ward: http://deadspin.com/5907975/high-school-students-in-new-england-face-suspension-from-team-activity-for-racist-joel-ward-tweets