The Washington Post carried a great article today about a certain group of Facebookers exhibiting some questionable content in their profiles and photos — and those people are public school teachers.
From the article, a great example of not using your noodle:
Erin Jane Webster, 22, a long-term substitute teacher in Prince William, keeps a page similar to other teachers’. Portions are professional, but some parts suggest the author is in the throes of sorority rush.
Under a “Work Info” heading, the page reads, “Employer: Prince William County Schools. Location: Parkside Middle School Language Arts Teacher.” The section lists where she attended college (Radford ‘07) and high school (Osbourn Park High ‘03).
But the page features multiple “bumper stickers,” including one that uses a crude acronym for attractive mothers and another that says: “you’re a retard, but i love you.”
Teensy problem: Webster teaches students with emotional and learning disabilities. In an interview, she acknowledged her use of “retard” could be misconstrued. The word, generally considered offensive, circulates among some young people as acceptable derogatory slang.
“My best friend, she always calls me that because I say ditzy things,” Webster said. “My best friend and I would never go around calling people that. All of my [students] have emotional disorders or learning disabilities. . . . I love them.”
Sound like the type of person you want to be educating your children? No? Okay, then how about this person:
Bree Melton, 22, an eighth-grade teacher at Fairfax County’s Robert Frost Middle School, which has students with hearing problems, describes her job on her Facebook page as “rocking out with some deaf kids. it. is. AWESOME.”
In an interview, Melton said: “Is my Facebook profile open? I definitely thought I closed [the page] to people. . . . I am absolutely being sarcastic. I don’t [use] sign [language] myself, and I am learning so much about it. I was being completely candid. It’s awesome working with them.” Access to her page was later restricted, effectively withdrawing it from public view.
Still not the type of person you want to teach your kids to dot their I’s and cross their T’s? Ok, I’ve found a real winner here, I promise:
In some cases, teachers apparently didn’t mind that their Web sites were raunchy and public — at least until a reporter called. Alina Espinosa, a teacher at Clopper Mill Elementary School in Montgomery, had written on her Facebook page in the “About Me” section: “I only have two feelings: hunger and lust. Also, I slept with a hooker. Be jealous. I like to go onto Jdate [an online dating service for Jewish people] and get straight guys to agree to sleep with me.”
Asked about the page, Espinosa said: “I never thought about parents and kids [seeing it] before. That’s all I’m going to say.”
Minutes later, access to her site was restricted.
So there you have it, three real life examples of young Facebookers who either don’t know (not likely) or don’t care (likely) that their employers could be looking in on them. Shoot, if a Washington Post staff writer could gain access to their Facebook pages, I wonder how many school officials in the DC area are now checking out their staff’s Facebook pages?
Of course, schoolteachers aren’t the only ones this touches. I always wonder about people I personally know posting raunchy photos of themselves partying, holding up their middle fingers to the camera, showing some flesh, etc. Would you show your employer that?
Part of social networking is that you make your private life a little bit public and you become a bit transparent. Some of us become too transparent and get a little carried away.
As for those teachers mentioned in the WP article, who knows if they’re going to face some sort of punishment or reprimand for their stupidity. As for the rest of us, let this be a good warning that we need to be a little more mindful of what we put out there in Internet-land for all to see.
As a Christian, I am reminded of Acts 24:16 in which the author states, “I always do my best to have a clear conscience in the sight of God and people.” Honestly, that’s the best way to go about it. If you live a pure life before God and others, you’re not going to have anything to worry about should you bare your soul to the world and people see what you do behind the scenes.
On the flip side, where it could really get nasty is if you proclaim yourself to be a Christian, yet your Facebook, MySpace, etc. profile shows evidence to the contrary. I won’t even begin to get into that, but in my opinion that is even worse than an employer or higher-up seeing your escapades.
In summary, if you have evidence of debauchery on those wild Saturday nights on your Facebook profile, make your profile private and save yourself.
But if you have evidence of Saturday night debauchery AND Sunday morning worship time in and time out on your Facebook, get some help. Please.
At any rate, we all need to make sure we’re living as Acts 24:16 states. It’ll help you in your career and your spiritual life. I guarantee it.
I’m off to update my Facebook photos.
Very interesting.