Week 14: Ethical and Legal Uses

Sexting is wrong. Simple as that. In the video news clip a victim of having images of them being sent around said "girls shouldn't have to go through this". A common response would be to protect girls and arm them with the information to not do it. And when boys ask for pictures it is chalked up to "boys will be boys". Instead, parents and schools should be arming both genders with the tools and courage to take a stand against sending inappropriate images to people. We all know that in the end, somehow other people will see them. Schools think that they have the problem under control from having it happen on school hours. Their response: no cell phones in class or school. Students are going to sneak their phones no matter what and they will always find a way to access computers or social media. Instead of banning cell phones and having sexting scandals happen anyway, the school administrators should be focusing on teaching students about respect for others. Also, they should be teaching students the consequences of making certain choices online. Once things are posted to the internet, the information, video or image is never really gone.

The school district should carry some of the responsibility if one of their students is caught up in a sexting scandal. Under the Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) Law, New Jersey educators are to report any actions they witness or overhear to higher authorities. Sexting should fall under the same parameters. If there is one thing I have learned during my fieldwork and student teaching is that students may think they can hide something but in the end the teachers always overhear or see something that gives the student away. I find it hard to believe that if a scandal is happening in the school the student body would not be talking about it. Even if a school does not feel that addressing sexting is their responsibility, the student who is being humiliated will then be bullied and harassed by his/her peers. By the time the faculty steps in the damage will already be done and the emotional damage will have taken its toll.