Someone once asked me whether it is right for a teacher to punish a student outside the school premises.
My answer was simple: school authority should end at the school gate. The control and discipline exercised by teachers and other members of staff should be limited to the school environment. Once a student leaves the school, the responsibility of discipline primarily belongs to the parents or guardians.
If I were a teacher and saw one of my students doing something wrong outside school, my intervention would not be as a teacher but as an adult who knows the child. Whether I step in would depend on the situation. If it is something that requires immediate help or guidance, I would intervene. But if it is purely a disciplinary matter, I believe that responsibility belongs to the parents. At that point, the student is no longer under the school’s supervision, and my official duty as a teacher has ended.
The same applies to schools monitoring the personal social media accounts of teachers and students. For me, that is a no.
While such monitoring may reveal more about a person, it also raises serious privacy concerns. There is a big difference between seeing what someone posts online and using those posts to judge their character or professional ability. People often behave differently depending on the environment they are in.
Some teachers gamble, smoke, drink, or enjoy partying in their private lives. Monitoring their personal social media could expose those aspects of them, but should they be judged by that or by how responsibly they perform their duties in the classroom?
Nobody is perfect, and everyone has flaws. If a teacher behaves professionally at work, treats students well, performs their duties diligently, and does not encourage harmful behaviour, then what they do in their private life should not concern the school, unless it involves criminal acts, cruelty, or conduct that seriously damages the school’s reputation.
The same principle applies to students.
Many students today post content on social media that may not reflect well on them. However, simply posting online does not automatically affect the image of their school because most people do not know which school they attend. It only becomes a school issue when they identify themselves with the school, for example, by posting such content while wearing the school uniform or clearly representing the institution.
Instead of monitoring every aspect of students’ private lives, schools should focus on matters that directly involve the school. If a student posts inappropriate content while in a school uniform or in a way that clearly damages the school’s reputation, then the school has every right to address it promptly.
In my opinion, schools should concentrate on what happens within their authority and on issues that directly affect the institution. Monitoring people’s private lives outside the workplace or learning environment is not something that should be encouraged.
Just call me Burl.
I am a professional gamer, motivational speaker and a crypto enthusiast
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