Read the following NYT Editorial which discusses the punishment for "sexting". Then respond with your opinion how we should deal with the situation through multiple perspectives:
a) as a school
b)family
c) nation
How does View Park handle these issues? Should we?
March 25, 2010
Editorial
Prosecutors Gone Wild
Schools across the country are understandably concerned about students “sexting” — sending sexually suggestive photos and text messages by cellphone. But a Pennsylvania school district went too far when it referred several female students for criminal prosecution after their images showed up on other students’ phones and they refused to participate in an antisexting education program. A federal appeals court was right to rule last week that parents had the right to block the district attorney from prosecuting the girls.
In the fall of 2008, officials in the Tunkhannock Area School District discovered nude and seminude pictures of female students on cellphones belonging to other students. After they found out that male students had been exchanging these images, the officials turned the phones over to the district attorney to investigate.
The district attorney wrote to parents of at least 16 students, who either owned the confiscated phones or appeared in the photos, threatening to prosecute the students on child pornography charges. If the students enrolled in an education program covering sexual harassment, sexual violence and related issues, he said, they would not be charged.
The parents of three girls refused to enroll their daughters. The parents of one girl, who was photographed speaking on a phone in a white bra, said she was simply being a “goof ball.” Another girl was seen in a towel, looking like she had gotten out of the shower.
These parents sought a temporary restraining order to block the district attorney from bringing criminal charges against their daughters, which the court granted. The cases against two students were dropped and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, has since upheld the lower court. It said the third student and her parents are likely to succeed with their constitutional claims.
The prosecutor’s threat to bring charges, the appeals court ruled, would be retaliation for the exercise of protected constitutional rights — the parents’ 14th Amendment right to parental autonomy, and the child’s First Amendment right against compelled speech. Students in the program are required to write about how their actions were wrong.
The court said the prosecutor was trying to retaliate, rather than simply enforce the law, because there was so little basis for believing the three students had engaged in illegal activity — that they ever possessed the images or were involved in transmitting them.
Schools have a strong interest in maintaining an appropriate learning environment, indeed a duty to do so. But as students use more — and more elaborate — forms of technology, school officials will need to do a better job of upholding decorum without creating felony prosecutions out of misbehavior that should be handled by parents.
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As a school sexting can be handled, by monitoring cell phone usage, which View Park has currrently been doing. By limiting the amount of time a student can talk such as on their free periods, before and after school, as well as lunch and nutrition. This helps lower the opportunity for a student to send a sext message. This is due to the fact that they are in a school environment, and have less of an opportunity to send these inappropriate text.
ReplyDeleteFamily members can always help deal with the situation by teaching their children and family members the risk in sexting. Instilling in them how it is morally and logically wrong, as well as encouraging them not to participate in these activities period. But, a nation can do so much more. As a nation we can stop promoting all the sex that is constantly seen on commercials and television period, and currently aimed at a younger crowd. The promotion of sex sells, and the ads all over the community is encouraging teens to sext.
But, teens cannot always be monitored,for the simple fact that there are some defiant teens that will still participate in these types of activities. The best thing to do is to inform them of the harm and risk, then its left up to them from there.
-Lorina Kegler
For thr record: I do not support sexting.
ReplyDeleteSchools have no business handling sexting unless it takes place on campus and/or during school hours. Otherwise, sexting is a private practice. (As degrading and amoral as it is)
Families should teach their children to have more self respect than to seek praise and approval through half or fully naked photos of themselves. Families need to work on values and self esteem.
It should not be a crime for minors to share sexts between eachother. I agree that the sharing of sexts between minors and adults should be charged as child pornography.
View Park does not do anything to my knowledge, about sexting, and I know it takes place. As previoulsy stated, they should not get invlved unless it is done on campus, and/or during school hours.
-Talayne
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs a school I feel that the teachers and administrators could either limit the students usage of cell phones on campus or simply not allow the students to use them at all. But then again that would be wrong because technically "sexting" isn't causing any harm to the faculty at the school. The only problem with "sexting" during school hours is that it can possibly distract the students and hinder them from learning.
ReplyDeleteAs a family I believe the best option is to talk to your child about the risks of sexting and let them know the destructive effects that can follow after it.
As a nation I personally believe that there is nothing else that we can do because sexting is an act that has been permeating throughout the nation for a long period of time. It can't be stopped now.
I feel that sexting will always be around as long as there is technology. Some students may not participate in this form of practice, but I strongly believe that the majority of them are .
- Jay Carter
The only way for sexting to be dealt with as a school, is for the school to implement harsher consequences and rules for cell phone usage. Schools should only allow for cell phones to be used before or after school. Although it is fairly difficult to monitor all students that use their cell phones at school the rules and consequences should be set so that students may decide to abide by those rules.
ReplyDeleteFamilies have a greater power when it comes to preventing sexting. Parents can instill self-respect in their teenage children to help prevent sexting. The parents can also monitor the text messages that their children are sending to make sure that there is no sexting going on.
As a nation there is nothing that can be done to prevent sexting. I feel that the nation is somewhat part of the sexting problem now. Everywhere you look there are images promoting sex whether it be on television, billboards etc. There are even some shows like Degrassi in which the teenagers at the high school participate in sexting themselves.
I wouldn’t say that View Park handles the issue of sexting and I feel that they should try and handle the issue. Whatever a person wants to do is their business, as long as a student is not sexting on school grounds or while school is in session then it is none of the school’s business.
-Adia Brady
As a school I feel administrators such as the principal and teachers can do the best they can by monitoring phone privileges and the time usage of phones in schools, but due to those restrictions it still can't limit sexting in schools. The only true way to limit sexting in schools would be to actually monitor and basically spy on what a student does on their phone and not only is that impossible, but that is also an invasion of someones privacy.
ReplyDeleteAs a family to deal with sexting, the parents should before hand speak to their child about sexting and the consequences of sexting and what it can bring.
As a nation especially with the high rates of sexting in this generation,the nation should better inform what sexting is and what are the different types of sexting. The nation should also show the consequences of what sexting can lead and give examples of people who recieved consequences for sexting. With the information that can be given towards sexting, I believe just like information given about other problems in America, it wouldn't solve or change anything. People would still use sexting due to their freedom to do whatever they want with their technology.
I don't know if View Park has handled the issues dealin with sexting due to this being my first year at View Park.
As a school I feel there is know way they can really handle this type of matter. This is a private and personal issue in the childs life and the school shouldnt get involved with it unless it is being done during school hours or on the school campus. The only way to make sure this doesnt happen on school grounds is to prevent the use of cell phones on school grounds.
ReplyDeleteFamily members can prevent this by talking to there kids ahead of time and letting them know the consequences that will come when making these types of decisions.
As a nation I feel can't really prevent it from happening becuase they cant control what people do in there personal lives. All they can do is show what "sexting" could lead to and how to prevent it. I dont think "sexting" should be considered a crime.
--Michael Palmer
Even though sexting can have a harmful effect, I feel the schools should not have any input in students personal lives. Schools should only take action, as my peers previously stated, when "sexting" occurs on school grounds. Offering students programs to enhance their awareness on the issue is helpful but I highly doubt students will understand the importance or even take what is said into consider what is said. Most of the time, for instance when schools have abstanace assemblies, students never really listen to what is said because their mind is made up.
ReplyDeleteAs for families, I feel the same way, if kids have their mind made up and want to sext then they are going to. As many times parents tell their childrent not to have sex or don't do drugs, kids continue to do it. I feel as long as parents talk to their kids about it , that is all they can do because if they try and restrict their kids, the children will soon begin to lash out.
As a nation, only legal matters can have some control over sexting. Still things will be done illegally. The nation can try its best to prevent it but what students willing do, should not be their concern when there are other problems that are more important.
Unless sexting is taking place at school, I feel the school has no right to monitor what the student uses their cell phones for. However, in order to reduce the opportunity for students to be sexting, the school can set permitted times when the students can use their phones as in before and after school and during lunch and nutrition. In addition, the school can put in place harsh consequences for student sexting during school hours, but past that, a student’s out of school activities are their business.
ReplyDeleteFamilies have the greatest responsibility and power to prevent sexting. Parents should instill a high moral value, and self respect in their children to prevent them from sexting. In addition if parents are paying for a childes cell phone, the phone is theirs and they have every right to go through it and check the messages for sexting.
As a nation, we can stop sexting by stopping promoting sexual images towards young children who are easily influenced. Take sexual messages out of such mainstream images such as television, music, billboards, the internet and other places where children are exposed to them. In addition, children should be show the possible negative outcomes of sexting, giving them incentives not to do it.
I don’t believe sexting has been a problem at View Park so the school has not had to deal with it. I believe it they had to sexting only involves the school if it is done on school grouds during school hours, besides that it is a person choice of the students.
As a school, I feel that sexting is something that administration cannot control. High School students are fully capable of making their own decisions, and know the possible repercussions of those decisions. However, I do not feel that their actions are punishable by law. The only thing we can do is educate students of the possible consequences of sexting. As a family, again, the only tool we can use in this possible situation is education. Letting teens know the negative outcome of their actions instead of trying to prosecute them. In this particular instance, I believe the parents had the right idea in blocking the case against the teenagers because in order to have a legitimate case, personal harm has to be done against you. Teens who sext are not causing harm to anyone but themselves, so why should they be punished for it?
ReplyDeleteAt View Park, sexting does occur, and sexts that were intended to be personal have been spread around campus. How we should handle this? We shouldn't. In teaching that each student be held accountable for their own actions, I think they should be expected to deal with the consequences of their actions. No one FORCES any students to send sexts, and if they don't want their half to full naked pictures spread across campus, simply don't send them.
I think that this is a very interesting topic. As far as schools dealing with the issue, they shouldn’t. The only instance in which they should get involved is when there is a case where a specific text or picture is being spread around the entire campus, in that scenario the “Sexting” is directly affecting the schools culture and they have the right to get involved. In other cases they have no right to intervene. That is a personal decision that should be decided with the individual. The assertion that schools should put restrictions on cell phone usage in schools because of the possibility of sexting is utterly ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThis problem should not be handled in schools but at home. Parents need to talk to their children about what is appropriate and what isn’t. The parents need to intervene and let their children know of the possible repercussions of their actions. With sexting something that was meant to be personal can become public very easily; the parents need to inform their children of this reality. I think that in some cases girls send them out without even considering the consequences. If they are taught that it is wrong at home, they will be much more reluctant to try.
As a nation I don’t think much can be done to eliminate sexting, I think that sexting should be low on our priorities to fix. Young children do much worse things than virtual stripping now and days. If we wont to eliminate sexual activities with young children, I believe that not that nation, but the parents should take more initiative into intervening into their kids personal lives so they don’t feel like it’s okay to perform these acts at such a young age.
I don’t know of any issues that View Park has had with sexting , but if it was happening I believe that they shouldn’t do anything about it. As long as a student is not sending mass messages out through the school, or doing it on campus, it is none of View Parks business.
-Joseph Fiddmont
First off, this is a multi-layered issue. Many teens just don't sext to sext, they may sext to a gain a feeling of likeness or acceptance. As a school to prevent sexting, schools can ban cell phone usage during all school hours to guarantee no sexts would be sent nor received on school boundaries. It is the responsiblity of the parents to ensure a good value system and a sense of confidence and respect within their children to prevent 'sexting' from occuring in the first place.
ReplyDeleteYoung children subconsciously mimic the actions and behaviors of their surrondings, and if these students have not been enveloped in a strong support/value system, high confidence or self-esteem, then they can be easily atrracted to doing what's popular and cool to fit in. It does not bode well that in almost all forms of media sex, and eroticism have been glamourized and fed to students that this is how one should look or behave to be accepted.As a nation, there needs to be a major societal shift that breaks past the rapid images of sexualization and instead promtes images of confidence and high-self esteem among young men and women. I am not aware of any actions that View Park has taken to prevent sexts, however the administration should to ensure a comfortable, learning enviroment for all students so sexting wont be such a distraction towards learning, the intended reason for attending school.
First off, I have never heard of "sexting", although I am familiar with the act but I was unaware that it had a name. Actually the name is quite funny to me because someone just put sex in front of text and because it has a name now its so horrible. Personally, I do not agree or take part in the act because it is simply a way to blackmail yourself. How I see it is, you cannot trust everyone, therefore sending nude pictures and or videos to someone is giving them the opportunity to have the power to send them to whoever they choose. Of course your intentions were for them to be for that one person to have or see for whatever reason and you may tell them not to send them to anyone or to delete them after they view them, but we all know that this does not happen. Because people change everyday, as soon as you and the oerson you "sexted" have any sort of conflict, there is a great possibility that your business can be sent to numerous parties or posted online. The issue of this matter is that tennagers are sending "sexually suggestive photos and text messages by cellphones". The only way to try and fix this problem because personally I dont think it can be fixed and it is uncontrollable but you can try by doing 3 things: changing the nation;the media, the home and school.
ReplyDeleteYou can begin with the nation and if the media stops promoting that sex sells, then we probably wouldnt have this problem. Throughout magazines, advertisements, television shows, music videos etc, there is an image of a "sexy" person and implies that the less clothing their wearing, the more sexy they are. The media is extremely influential to its audience, especially towards teenagers. Because of the portrayal throughout out the media, teenagers are manipulated by their peers to achieve a certain look or personality. Teenagers are peer pressured everyday into doing certain things or even "sexting" to fit in. Does that make it right? No, but can you change it or fix it, no you cannot because its uncontrollable.
You can try to fix the problem within the home. Parents can instill in their teenagers moral values and teach them to respect themselves and not fall to the temptation that surrounds them. Although parents can instill these things and try their best to protect their teenagers, they cannot control what their teenagers do in their private times. You must allow your kids to learn from their mistakes and give them responsibility. As the saying says, you can lead a horse to the water but you cant make him drink it, applies to parents and their teenagers. They can only give them the tools they need but they cant make them use the tools. They can only encourage them to have moral values or teach them to have moral values but they cannot make them exercise them.
Schools have the smallest part of the three because they can only do so much and they can only control what takes place during their school hours. Administration can only prohibit students from cell phone use during school hours but cannot stop the conversations that students may have to plan to do the act after school hours. As far as View Park goes, if it comes up, then its handled but were able to use our cell phones during school hours at specific times but there is only so much administration can do to prevent this happening. But then again, actually they dont because it is still going to happen whether its prohibited or not.
To me "Sexting" cannot be handled because you never know when its happening unless your monitoring the child's phone 24/7, which is impossible. As a school, I don't think it could be handled or it should be handled because like others stated, this is the child's personal life, so therefore, they should stay out of it. Of course they can enforce no "sexting" on campus, but who would actually send nude pictures to someone while in class, that's bogus, because there are high risk of getting your phone taken. But if someone does get there phone taken because its out or because there on it, and a staff decides to go through the phone and see something inappropriate, they shouldn't do anything because that was already in the phone which probably took place off campus.
ReplyDeleteAs a family, "sexting" should be handled by parents talking to their teens, and letting them know the outcome of it, because it can cause a major problem physically and emotionally. Parents should monitor there child's phone if they suspect something like that is taking place, to prevent greater harm from happening, and if they do find evidence of that, then they should take the phone until they feel it is ok to give it back, no serious punishment should be placed upon the child.
As a nation, I believe its out of their control, teens are sneaky, so once they do decide to send nude pictures, they'll probably delete the evidence as quickly as possible, if they do find that it is taking place then they have no right to press charges because its not their child, and its not their life. If the parent feels that their child needs to be enrolled in those type of programs then its okay, but if the government is forcing this upon a family, it isn't right. They need to leave the punishment up to the parent.
View Park doesn't do anything, because they are probably unaware of the action. If is does take place on school grounds then they should address it immediately before it gets worse, but if it has taken place somewhere else, then the school shouldn't get involved.
- Tara Harris.
Sexting is a trend that will never cease. Teenagers everywhere are constantly sending each other sexual messages and images through cell phones, email, etc. There is no way that this can be stopped. It can be prevented if parents teach their children to respect their body and also the risk involved with such activities.
ReplyDeleteNo school can truly stop this from happening because even with strict policies on cell phone usage, students will sneak their phones in their backpacks or in the restroom. All it takes is a brief moment to send a text.
I disagree with "sexting" being a crime. It is a private practice and those that engage in it know the risk involved.
I think that schools cannot really control sexting except limit the use of cell phones during the hours in which the students are at the school, which view park does monitor.
ReplyDeleteAs far as families go, I think that parents should have talks with their children about the consequences of sexting and why the shouldn't do it.
As a nation we must give all the information we hav about sexting and what the consequences will be if they are caught or if they decide to do it at all.
In my opinion schools can't really stop "sexting", they can cut down limits on cell phone usage like View Park is currently doing by limiting time that cell phones can be used. However, I feel that the best enforcement comes from home. First its all a matter of home training. How well the parents raise their children and teach them to respect their bodies as well as themselves. As parents, they're responsible for their childs action and since they are most likely are the owners of the phone they should have a right to be aware of whats being used and transmitted from the cell phone and should enforce it. But most importantly it's about the communication with the children because it can make a difference in the childs behavior and decisions but most parents aren't willing to have that discussion with their kids.
ReplyDeleteAs a nation I feel the best thing to do is enforce more security or saftey on what can be exposed or try and reach out to those kids whose parents are willing to have those conversations with them and build awareness just as we do for AIDS or any other national issue that is of existence today. Also there should be some form of punishment or consequence for those found being involved in such vulgar behavior.
-Asia G.
I think the district attorneys’ prosecution of the involved teens was a misuse of child pornography legislation, which was intended to protect minors from sexual abuse, not punish them for exploring their sexuality. I think the issue of “sexting” is one that should be handled almost exclusively by the families of the children involved, and to a smaller extent the school, as institutions do reserve the right to regulate the use of misuse of technological devises during instructional time. It is the concern of parental guardians to shape their child’s morality regarding nudity and sex, and likewise to protect them from abuse in such areas by pressing charges if they feel their children have been violated.
ReplyDeleteThe nation’s response to this issue will be dictated, as per usual, by media portrayal of the issue. If the public response is ardent enough, eventually more stringent legislation will have to be developed. It is my hope that if this does occur, a more clear distinction will be made between common adolescent immaturity and an actual criminal offense such as child pornography.
Lastly, I must comment that I find it unfair that only the photographed female students were penalized so harshly, while the male students who had been exchanging their photos escaped such harsh prosecution.
I don’t think that schools should be able to handle the use of sexting because it is a personal choice. Regardless if they use measures such as limiting the use of cell phones students will still find ways to do what they want when they want. There isn’t really a way for schools to try and control this issue. Even if schools try to become more involved with the issue of sexting it isn’t any of their business because it should be up to their family to deal with it and provide the consequences for it.
ReplyDeleteAs a family I feel that it is up to them to provide the children with the ability to have respect for themselves and not let them be degraded by sending revealing photos of themselves to other people. Also there needs to be more communication within families regarding certain things such as sexting.
As a nation there isn’t really anything that can be done regarding sexting because people will still find ways to do what they want. It cant be controlled because it is a decision that people make and it is quite hard to controls a persons decision.
View Park doesn’t have any consequences regarding sexting because I don’t think they are really aware of this issue. They really don’t have a reason to get involved if it isn’t done on school grounds or during school hours.
-Re’Nada Smith
I don't believe that any school has any real say in the act of texting, it's something that is truly meant to be dealt with out of the hands of teachers ans school faculty. No school should be given the right to violate a students property to that extent; searching through ones phones and telling them whether or not it is appropriate to show their body. So schools need to really just urge parents to teach their children the proper way to handle themselves when it comes to the opposite sex. There are many dangers that could arise from it in the long haul. Parents really need to stop being friends to their children and teach them some proper morals.
ReplyDeleteParents are the people who are ultimately the one responsible for this epidemic and should be the ones responsible for solving it. They need to educate their teens on the dangers of having their nude pictures out for the public to see. People need to do some real parenting not befriending.
As a nation I believe we need to take a close look at what the childrens role models are and how they affect our behavior. They have a large impact on how we choose to lead our own lives. With better roles models; who have actual morals, we fan make progress on the situation and stop so many teens in joining in on the act of sexting