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Read the following prompt: Should comments among friends made on Facebook be considered private? Or should we expect that anything said on social media might be viewed by the world? If our boss doesn’t like what we write on Facebook, Twitter or other social media, should it be grounds for getting fired? Read the following article, and create an argument answering the questions that follow.
In the article “Teacher’s Facebook Post Didn’t Warrant Firing, a Panel Upholds,” Andy Newman writes:
The day after a sixth grader from Harlem drowned in the Atlantic Ocean on a class outing, a fifth-grade teacher in Brooklyn posted some rather impolitic comments about her own students on Facebook.
“After today, I am thinking the beach sounds like a wonderful idea for my 5th graders?” the teacher, Christine Rubino, wrote in 2010. “I HATE THEIR GUTS! They are all the devils spawn!” She added, concerning one student, “I wld not throw a life jacket in for a million.”
Ms. Rubino compounded her problems by trying to cover up and deny the online outburst, a hearing officer found, and the Department of Education fired her.
But a state judge ruled that while Ms. Rubino’s remarks were “offensive” and “repulsive,” she should not have been terminated.
And on Tuesday, a state appellate panel, upholding the lower court, ruled that Ms. Rubino, a 15-year veteran with an otherwise unblemished disciplinary record, is entitled to keep her job.
Should what you say on Facebook be grounds for getting fired? Why or why not?
Use the following questions to guide your response:
Should comments among friends on Facebook be considered private? Or should we expect that anything said on social media might be viewed by the world?
Do you think that the teacher in the article, Ms. Rubino, should have been fired for her comments on Facebook? Why?
How careful are you with what you write online — on Facebook or other social media, or even in text messages and e-mails?