Thursday, February 14, 2008

Should schools punish students who post negative blogs about their teachers on the Internet?

Why or why not? To what extent should freedom of speech be allowed?

Please come up with a group response to this question.

Regards.

17 comments:

shiyuan said...

Schools should punish students who post negative blogs about their teachers on the internet. As students we are expected to show respect to our teachers, students should be deterred from posting negative comments on internet with the implementation of punishments. Freedom of speech should be allowed to the extent where it does not conflict with the society's interest. For instance, Singapore, which is a multi-racial country, racial discrimination must not be allowed and speech that is suggestive of it should be prohibited.


Shiyuan, Xian chen, Amanda, Nicholas, Chris

shiyuan said...
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shiyuan said...
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evelyn said...

Should schools punish students who post negative blogs about their teachers on the Internet?
Yes, schools should set out punishments for students who post negative blogs about their teachers.
No doubt that every school has a different set of guidelines for students, we feel that in general, students have to be responsible for what they blog about. Instead of blogging about it online, a more effective way for students to air their views would be to provide feedback to the teachers directly. Should the incident be the fault of the teacher but the teacher is not willing to listen to the students’ point of view, students can still voice their comments through the various feedback channels available in the school. This not only allows teachers to clarify their actions or words, it is also a better method to ensure that the students’ suggestions are heard. The internet should not be used as a blanket for anonymity and hence disrespectful comments towards teachers that would not be said in real-life should also preferably not be posted on the blogs. Teachers should be treated with respect and hence when students cross the line, schools would have to set out punishments. Punishments are also in place to ensure that the virtual world does not become a place where students can write irresponsibly so that the school’s reputation can also be preserved.
In our opinion, freedom of speech should be allowed if it does not hurt the feelings of others and insult a particular group or individual. This includes the minority so that we can ensure that the rights of all groups are protected and so that the society can remain harmonious.

Evelyn, Yihui, YingHin, Emily 09S03K

cajoled; said...

We do not agree that students should be allowed to write negative things on their blogs as this is defamatory and can have a profound negative impact on the way the victim and his associations are seen by others, based on one person's point of view, which is biased. Also, given the fact that the teenage years are a time of hotheadedness and naivety, we believe that punishments should not be too harsh on first offence, as teens are still learning what is socially acceptable and what's not, so they can realise that the world doesn't revolve exclusively around them, and that other people have feelings too. Teachers are not aliens; they are human beings, just like everyone else, they have emotions.

Abigail Kang, Zhefei, Sze Waiy, Timothy, Justin
09S07A

Inez said...

We feel that schools should punish students who post negative blogs about their teachers.

From a young age, students have been taught to respect their teachers and thus negative blogs should be stopped as it is a sign of disrespect. As such punishing students who post negative blogs about their teachers is a way to reinforce the importance of reapecting one's elders.

Besides, posting negative blogs about their teachers will not help to solve some of the issues that these unhappy students may have regarding their teachers. Instead students can try to give their teachers constructive feedback on their teaching techniques as well as suggestions to solve the issues that these students may have. In this way effective learning and better communication can be achieved, thereby helping to forge better ties between teachers and students.

Fang Ting said...

Even though students should be given freedom of speech on their blogs, they must recognize that a blog is a public domain, accessible to anyone who has internet access, and thus must be responsible for the content of their blogs. Should a teacher stumble across some inflammatory/insulting content, we feel that they have every right to mete out a reasonable punishment to the student. Therefore, we feel that students should be allowed to blog negative comments about their teachers at their own risk. In our opinion, taking this risk is not a very calculated move as blogging negative comments about a teacher (or anyone for that matter), is comparable to tape-recording one's "bitching" and allowing everyone who can be bothered to listen, hear it.

Firstly, teachers are elders and must be treated with respect. Because they have to endure students’ misbehavior and sometimes violation of school rules, and yet they do not bring these bad points out into the public. Secondly, posting negative comments might tarnish the reputation of the school because when the student is angry, he might exaggerate the smallest issues and then because of that, the school's name is defamed. Besides, the bad points of the teachers are for the school to decide. In the hierachy of authority, students are supposed to respect the teachers. Any misbehavior on the part of the teachers can be feedback to the school, and the school would handle it from there. Even if the teacher really has insulted or hurt a student, there are proper channels for the student to take to confront the incident and the teacher, not to warp it into the students' own words from the blogs. Blogging negatively is an improper channel that could potentially intrude on the private lives of the teacher and expose his shortcomings to public. these negative long term effects shud be taken into account.

Secondly, if the student is allowed to continuously post negative comments about his teacher
he might start to test the limits a bit. That is to say, his ridicules might get more and more insulting, simply because he feels that nobody is watching him or binding him with certain boundaries, so it is the schools decision whether to look out for the time when he crosses the line, and then punish him or prevent it from happening at all by forbidding negative comments.
It is up to the schools policy, whether it is prevention is better than cure, or not.

If one were to argue that these students should not be punished because it is their freedom to post whatever they want, because it is, after all, their own blog, then we would like to ask these pro-freedom-of-speech advocates if they have left their values of basic courtesy in kindergarten. Respect for others is important, regardless of whether it is exercised in real life, or over the net. Remember how mothers would spank their children for disrespect? Well, posting negative blogs about teachers is merely a form of “high-tech disrespect”, so voila, the students should be punished. Besides, freedom of speech also has its limits. It should not be to an extent where it hurts others. It would take a toll on the teachers’ feelings if they saw what was posted about them, thus, these incidents should be stopped by punishing the students for their actions.

On the whole, we are more towards students using freedom of speech in the right way and not use it to post negative comments about teachers they dislike. If the school reads the negative comments that the student posted, it is alright for the school to impose a reasonable punishment on the students as the students should be held responsible for what they did. It is actually advisable for the students not to post these negative comments because in the real world, people can be sued for slander and students should learn that it is not advisable to insult teachers especially on a public area like their blogs.

fangting, kim, minjia, bryan cai 09S03K

jas said...
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xyd said...

First of all, there is often a reason behind the student who posted negative blogs about his teachers. The school should look into the cause that incited the student to post negative views of the teacher. Had the students been treated unfairly by the teacher or had the teacher offended the student in anyway? It is understandable that a student may have done it in a moment of anger but that does not mean he is justified to do so.

Although it is a person’s freedom to post whatever he wants on his blog, this freedom is built on the basis that he will post rationally and responsibly. In the case of failure to do so, such that one’s posts results in the defamation or debasement of another (you had violated the rights of other), then a punishment is needed to act as a warning to the offenders. Hence, the school should punish students who post negative blogs about their teachers on the Internet.


Yande, Yadi, Gi Wei and Qi Wei (09s06j)

jas said...

Our group strongly believes that schools should deal severly with students who post negative blogs about their teachers on the internet. The main reason for our stand is that doing so contradicts basic moral values that we should abide by from a young age. Respecting others is an elementary value and figures of authority like our parents and teachers deserve this more than anyone else as they are our elders and advisers. Even if the teacher has behaved in a way that is unacceptable, simply making degrading comments about them and not giving them constructive feedback personally is not being fair to them especially since a blog is a public domain. There could have been a misunderstanding in the first place and the fact that the blogger resorts to making negative comments about their teachers behind their backs doesn't reflect well on the blogger either.

Freedom of speech is a common excuse for making controversial remarks. It is healthy to express one's views but it should be restricted to a degree whereby comments remain within the boundaries of being a feedback and not in anyway be insulting or disrespectful. Complaints that students have with regards to their teachers can be conveyed through proper feedback channels. By practising self-censorship on blogs and voicing these concerns directly to the teachers, irresponsible comments and misunderstandings can be avoided and issues can be dealt with promptly.

jasmine, megan, abhijit, ying xin, peng cheng 09S06H

ihatemuggers said...

We feel that punishment should be meted out to students who decide to post negative blogs about their teachers because although freedom of speech is encouraged, we feel that students should not cross the line by posting such comments that are deemed disrespectful.

From young, all of us have learnt to respect people from our education and this respect should also extend towards teachers, who are responsible for our learning. Although sometimes we do not agree with certain methods used by teachers when dealing with us, we should not resort to using the internet to voice out our dissatisfaction as it will lead viewers to think that the teacher is not a good teacher and the reputation of the teacher will be tarnished just because of our comments on the internet.

We also feel that alternate methods can be used to voice out our opinions and one such option is to lobby feedback to the school and propose constructive suggestions as to how to improve the teacher's way of dealing with certain issues

Although we feel that freedom of speech should be allowed, we also believe that the speaker should take responsibility for whatever comments he/her makes and the speaker should also make sure that he/her gets all the facts right before he/her makes the comments to avoid a biased comment that is degroratory to the person the comment is directed to.

Martin, Hui Jun, Fiona, Bhuvan

Brian said...

Our group believes that schools should punish students for posting negative blogs about their teachers on the internet.
Firstly, teachers are after all our elders and they indeed deserve some respect from us. No matter how much we dislike our teachers or how unfair we think the situation may be, it is our duty to share our thoughts with our teachers and not post comments on the internet, spreading unpleasant remarks about teachers behind their backs. After all, our teachers are in school to teach us and we should learn from them, instead of constantly being at loggerheads with them. As such, our group feels that students should actually seek to understand why their teachers had undertaken actions which upset them and not conclude wrongly that they are being treated unfairly. Thus, our group feels that those students who post negative comments on the internet are not demonstrating their maturity and should be punished.
Secondly, even though freedom of speech is a policy in Singapore, our group feels that there should be a limit to its practice, whereby any comments that defame others or are untrue should not be published. In the case of students and teachers, our group believes that negative comments about teachers should be taken seriously as it tarnishes the reputation of the school. Hence, we feel that the authorities should actually look into the matter and if students are caught to have posted untruthful comments about their teachers, they should be punished.
Last but not least, our group feels that freedom of speech should only be advocated if it is for the interest or benefit of the country. As such, in this situation, defamatory remarks will only serve to tarnish the reputation of the school and it may eventually lead to unrest or chaos in the country over a small matter that has been over-exaggerated by a student on his/her blog. Hence, we feel that the best way to solve this problem is to take precautions by punishing students if they were to post negative comments about the teachers on the internet. Some students may find this unfair to them. As such, schools should hold discussions or forums about affairs happening in the school and enable students to share their thoughts and feelings internally, within the four walls of the school, instead of posting comments openly, on the internet. This not only advocates democracy in school, whereby each and every student’s views are heard but it also helps to ensure that problems affecting the peace of the nation will not arise.
In conclusion, our group believes that punishment should be carried out if students were to post negative comments about the teachers on the internet. Punishment should however be lenient for first time offenders as students are often unaware of the consequences in an act of impulse.

Brian, Joel, Serena, Chelsia 09S06J

mel said...

We feel that schools should punish students who post negative blogs about their teachers on the Internet. Although it is not wrong to say that a blog is one's personal space where one is free to do whatever one wants to, self-control must be exercised at all times. After all, a blog is not really all that personal as it is accessible to the public via the Internet.

However much free speech should be encouraged in Singapore, students should still do so responsibly without hurting others. By punishing students who act irresponsibly online, schools can instill a better sense of responsibility in their students. This would also serve as a reminder for the rest to speak within civil boundaries. Also, students need to recognize that posting negative comments about teachers would do the situation no good, and, on the other hand, could make the situation worse.

Sometimes, students act immaturely on impulse, resulting in them making offensive comments about others. However, we do not feel that this is a reasonable excuse to pardon students from punishment as one has to be accountable for what he/she does. Ignoring the matter may only give students the impression that it is okay for them to criticize their teachers publicly. But by imposing a punishment on students, they will perhaps act more sensibly in the future to prevent others from getting hurt. All in all, students must realize that although they are given the right to speak freely, they need to know where the boundaries are in order to protect the well-being of others.

Arjun, Edith, Melissa, Toan 09S06J

Anonymous said...

a)
Yes
This measure is to help students realize that there is a limit as to which freedom of speech is allowed as well as help to prevent a recurrence of such an incidence in the future. In serious cases, the victim may be considered as defamed and would lead to serious repercussions as in the case of the student being taken to court. Therefore, early prevention is necessary.
Such an action is also highly disrespectful towards teachers. Mediation (ie Talk to teacher) should take precedence over venting through a blog post.
No
Blog posts are personal opinions: Students have a right towards expressing their views or perceptions of teachers


b) Freedom of speech should be allowed until the content infringes upon the rights of another group in society resulting in the disruption of peace and harmony of society. The most common example is perhaps racial harmony: Racist blogger incident.

~
Bao Rong, Lionel, Michelle, Qian Sheng
09S06J

Anonymous said...

Our group believes that while students have the right to exercise their freedom of speech in the present-day democratic world, they should be mindful and conscious in their comments and speech, and not trespass the boundaries of disrespect towards our elders, in this case, our teachers. If they abuse this freedom of speech, we feel that schools have the right to inculcate and enforce the right values of respect and the boundaries of “freedom of speech”, even if it means through meting out punishments to such students.

One must realize that while many students may feel that firstly, it is their personal blog and they have the right to their freedom of speech and expression of their views, and secondly, the schools have no right to intrude into their privacy, lest meting out punishments based on what they write in their own personal private blog, they must recognize that the internet is an open place, with no walls and open to anyone in the world, and that the internet is not your private place, thus, by posting negative comments, some even bordering on disgracing the teacher, is no different from the serious form of disrespect by criticizing your teacher in public.

While it is true to some extent that schools do not have the right to mete out punishments based on what they say on blogs, since they should enjoy the freedom of speech in their own blogs, students must realize that this freedom is only given as far as they keeping withing their own boundaries and have the discretion to know what is right or wrong. They must realize that this so-called “freedom” is still bound by laws and rules of society, and that they cannot overstep this boundary, in this case, the basic respect to be shown to their elders, their teachers, or else, they may have to face the consequence of losing this “freedom of speech”. An example would be how the government punished 3 bloggers who posted racist comments in their blogs, who overstepped the boundary of racial tolerance and risk causing the other party to be insulted, thus, it can be seen that there are still laws set and boundaries are present which they cannot overstep.

We feel that if this “freedom of speech” is misused, then schools have the power to exercise their duty to educate their students on the right moral values of respect and appropriate use of the internet, even if it requires the meting out of punishments to these offenders. If schools do not carry out punishments to these people, who base their negative disrespectful comments on their “freedom of speech”, then imagine what will happen to our society? It will certainly degenerate into one without the right moral values and teachers will also lose the respect which they deserve. Without control, this would become a serious social problem, thus, we feel that schools should punish such disrespectful students, and ensure that the students exercise the right values.

Thus, in conclusion, we feel that schools should punish students who post negative comments on their teachers in their blogs, as it is only appropriate and is in their duty to inculcate the right values of respect in students towards their elders and teachers. Freedom of speech is only allowed and is a given privilege, so long as students do not overstep their boundaries and be discreet and mindful in what they say, and not post any comments which are disrespectful or offensive to any party, keeping in mind their status and role as students, and the right morals and values that comes with it and that they have to respect, such as respect towards teachers. Do not overstep your boundary in a moment of anger, and take into consideration the consequences and what is the right attitude we should take. After all, our teachers are still our elders and deserve some respect for educating us, without them, we could not have learnt so much and become who we are today.

Xue Qian, Abigail Ho, Ewen, Jonathan, Ying Ying
09S07A

zoe said...

We feel that schools should punish students who post negative blogs about their teachers on the internet, because these negative comments are personal attacks toward the teachers, and may damage their self-esteem. Moreover, blogs are for public viewing, hence the teachers mentioned will be subject to public humiliation. In addition to spoiling the reputation of the teachers involved, the school’s image will also be tarnished.

Secondly, letting the students go scot-free will give the impression to other students as well as members of the public who read the blog that blogs are a convenient platform for flaming teachers, and this behaviour may be replicated in other blogs.

However, a certain amount of freedom should be given to students to express their feelings about teachers on their blogs. We feel that as long as students justify their negative comments, and maintain a certain level of sensitivity and respect when blogging, the school should not have any reason to punish them.

In conclusion, students have the duty to exercise their freedom of speech responsibly and not post disrespectful comments about teachers on their blogs without proper justification. If not, punishment should be meted out.

Bertrand, Edmund, Steph, Tu Guang, Zoe
09S06H

Anonymous said...

My group feels that students should be encouraged not to post negative comments regarding their teachers on their blogs. Punishment can act as a form of deterrent for the students to restrict their freedom of speech on the internet. Students should still offer a form of respect towards their teacher regardless of their feelings towards the teacher as they are our elders. Their blogs are for public viewing and such comments is open for everyone to see and this will subject the teacher to a certain degree of humiliation. Students should realise that they need to be responsible for what they post on their blogs and thus should control and censor their blog's content to prevent misunderstanding or offense.

We feel that freedom of speech should be allowed to the extent where it may cause offense to another party. We need to be aware of the fact that we are not a solitary individual but part of a big society and thus what we do or say have great influence on others. Therefore we need to take responsibilty for our actions and words. However, so long as we are able to stand by what we say and willing to take responsibility, freedom of speech can still exist.

Therefore, a student's freedom of speech should not be entirely restricted. As long as they are able to justify for what they say, the school have no authority to punish the student. It is instead the teacher's part to reflect on his/her actions to have deserved such comments from the students.

09S07A Samantha, Eileen, Vincent, Shi Hua