Thought provoking story from Wired that focuses on an earlier Columbus Dispatch article. the Wired piece is titled, Teachers Should Blog, Tweet and Flirt Online Like the Rest of Us and it disagrees with the suggestion made from the state teacher’s union that teachers should avoid social networking sites, I recommend reading the whole piece but some selected parts of it:

What’s next? Police officers prohibited from posting hook-up invitations on craigslist lest it appear they are hooking on the side? Firefighters advised not to enter a members-only adult community, in case some old biddy sees an episode of Primetime Live and accuses them of cyberperversions?

I suppose it’s a step forward that we’re not so much Protecting the Children as we are protecting the teachers against a serious, if groundless, backlash against the internet’s role in modern relationships. But advising teachers to avoid social networking or online dating is not only a pointless prohibition, it works to the detriment of their skills as educators.

All adults who work with youth should be aware of how young people communicate, fall in love and stay connected; I encourage teachers to try social networking services, to have a blog, to text message with their own families and friends. Experienced teachers will not only gain a better sense of the world their students live in — indeed, a world their students are creating — they will have a greater understanding of the young teachers entering the profession.

I tend to agree with Regina Lynn that it would be better for teachers to use the internet and to show their students by example the right way to communicate on line…