A tough issue — Our view: Time spent on difficult issue is time well spent
For most of us over a certain age, it is difficult to imagine young people sending intimate images of one another via social media. After all, assuming consenting participants of age, there truly are things that should remain private.
Sadly, that is the world we live in today.
But that doesn’t mean the doors should be thrown open and anything goes. Hardly. There are laws governing the transmission of intimate images. An argument can be made those laws aren’t stringent enough.
Last month, GSL High School Principal Matt Voss once again decided it was a worthwhile investment of a small amount of class time to gather students in seventh-eighth, freshmen and sophomores, and juniors and seniors for an age-appropriate discussion on the importance of using social media correctly and the potential consequences of making horrid decisions on the use of Snapchat, Twitter and many of the other forms of social media
The time wasn’t some effort at flailing at a problem that doesn’t exist. The junior-senior high school admits its students have been using social media inappropriately, in ways requiring the involvement of local police. In Hutchinson, a person’s threat, whether serious or not, sent schools into lockdown. The problem exists and we can’t put our collective head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t simply because we’re a non-metro community.
There are too many examples of bad things happening in small towns to ignore a problem.
A year ago, the school decided the threat to students’ health from vaping was worth the time to present information to students and their parents. Foss reports this year vaping is almost a non-issue at GSL.
The presentation to the juniors and seniors contained information and a pinch of instilling fear. Prosecutor Zach Lyngaas of the McLeod County Attorney’s Office told students of the potential criminal repercussions of making a threat, even in jest or out of frustration, against another student or the school via social media. Sending an intimate image of a person under 18 can be considered child porn and the potential severe criminal consequences. Lyngaas informed students the transmissions never, ever, go away even if the sender hits the delete button. Social media companies cooperate with law enforcement.
If next year, Foss can report a similar decline in the inappropriate use of social media at the school, we hope the community will agree the use of three hours on a winter day was time well spent.
Some may think the school is over-reaching in addressing this issue, that it is taking on an issue parents ought to be handling. In an ideal world, they are right. But here’s the problem: parents all too often aren’t doing what they ought to when it comes to teaching their children what is right and wrong.
Thus, the problem lands on the school’s plate. School administrators know children can’t learn to their full potential if there are rumors posted online of a possible threat circulating. We know school leaders would rather not have to address the issue.
Like any tool, the Internet provided the opportunity for appropriate and inappropriate uses. In the schools, it helps children learn. Sadly, it can be used to victimize others.
We applaud Matt Foss and his staff for taking the initiative, and perhaps a risk. He said school should prepare its students for their next chapter in life. We believe the three hours was a wise investment of time.