To get a better understanding of this blog, please read me first.

It can be quite a difficult choice when it comes to whether teachers should or should not be allowed to have their own MySpace or Facebook accounts. If allowed, teachers could become friends with their students and possibly become aware of a child who is thinking about suicide or killing another person. By using these sites it might lead to a decrease in school shootings or deaths in general. If the teacher is not allowed to use these accounts, it removes the risk of them losing their license, getting suspended, or even being incarcerated because of inappropriate actions on the sites. In my opinion, the O.E.A. (Ohio Education Association) is doing the right thing by strongly urging teacher to have neither the MySpace nor Facebook accounts. I am a member of both sites and have seen what people post in their blogs. All it takes is a couple words to ruin a person’s, or in this case a teacher’s, life forever. Yes, these sites are enjoyable, and I am not looking forward to the day I get rid of them, but we all know that we live in a world where there are some people who are not nice and who will try to hurt a person’s reputation. I do think it is great that teachers want to become more involved in helping their students. Maybe, instead of MySpace or Facebook, the O.E.A. should have schools create their own chat rooms. This site would be monitored at all times by the school. This way, students have a way of talking with their teacher about a homework problem or a problem at home. This would also protect their teacher’s reputation and job because teachers and students would be less likely to get on to an inappropriate topic while the schools are monitoring them. It is sad to say but we live in a world where no one is fully protected from the verbal, mental, or physical abuse that others inflict. By not allowing teachers to have MySpace and Facebook accounts, these abuses could be lowered.