On social media, teens are the experts

Last week, the principals of Lower Merion's two public high schools explained in a letter to parents that they had learned of a YouTube video showing students engaged in "binge drinking, marijuana use, substance-induced violence and several dangerous situations involving drugs and alcohol in vehicles." The letter warned of significant consequences for students (e.g., suspension from athletic teams) caught on camera engaging in such activities. The administrators added that this would be the case "even if they haven't had a sip of beer, but are found to have been 'in the room' at a party where alcohol is served."

I have a daughter in the 11th grade at Lower Merion High School, and I have watched as school administrators have struggled with the new world of social media. On the one hand, they have embraced computers and the Internet for their potential to enhance children's education; the district's one-laptop-per-child policy was hailed as pedagogically progressive when it was implemented in 2008. On the other hand, students' use of computers has been the cause of much consternation - most notoriously when the district was sued for violating students' privacy rights by turning on the cameras on those school-issued laptops and taking thousands of unauthorized pictures of their users.

Some observers of the YouTube controversy, myself included, worry that school officials' reaction is disproportionate, particularly in the case of students who are deemed guilty by mere association with the activities portrayed. But the incident illustrates dilemmas that all schools face as sites like YouTube and Facebook put once-private adolescent exploration in the public sphere: Does a school's role in its students' lives extend beyond the campus? Should administrators be actively policing moral and legal infractions outside school? Should they punish bad behavior they become aware of even if it occurs on weekends or during the summer?

I certainly sympathize with the challenges administrators face as they try to bring school policies up to date, particularly because media and the Internet continue to evolve in ways we never could have imagined. But as they do so, I hope they consult the real experts on social media - the students themselves.

In their letter to parents, the Lower Merion principals encouraged them to start conversations with their children about these issues. I couldn't agree more. We must talk early and often to our teens about both the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse and the difficulties of living in a world where more of what they do is public - not just for their peers to enjoy, but for parents, teachers, college admissions officers, and prospective employers to witness as well.

But we must also listen. Teenagers need to be able to talk about their experience of growing up in a world where their lives are chronicled and illustrated on the Internet - how it feels to be unwittingly swept into a scandalous YouTube video or unknowingly exposed in a Facebook photo album. Ultimately, I would hope we can all learn something as a result.