Editorial: Those terrible tweets

Talk about it

Apparently, bullying on the bus or at the playground isn’t enough anymore. The Internet is the new frontier for vile behavior.

The sad thing is that no one should be shocked by the establishment of a Twitter account that was used to spread gossip (as if you can call vulgarity, downright meanness and flat-out lies “gossip”) about Worthington High School students and recent graduates. After all, it had happened before a half hour down the road at Jackson County Central, and what should make Worthington so different?

In the age of Twitter and other social media, this can happen anywhere. And, tragically, this use of new technology to hararss innocent victims isn’t confined to the high school realm. Look no further at what took place in September 2010 at Rutgers University, when a student killed himself after his roommate broadcast live images of his sexual encounter with another man on the Internet.

Schools, more than ever, need to act aggressively to stop such behavior, as District 518 did in this instance. Most importantly, though, parents need to keep tabs on their kids more than ever in this advanced technological age. It’s probably not enough anymore to simply say “behave yourself” or “don’t get in trouble” to your seemingly angelic offspring. As District 518 Superintendent John Landgaard said, “It’s our job as parents to be responsible and check on what they’re doing.”

Youths also need to be aware of the potential legal ramifications of their online behavior and the permanency of what they may opt to post. Much of this, actually, is merely common sense. Unfortunately, when kids fail to be watched closely enough at home or be held accountable for their actions, common sense is probably more likely to go out the window at some point.

Tags: district 518, opinion, editorials, whs, worthington, education