"They Loved your GPA, then they saw your Tweets": A Summary of an Article by Natasha Singer

A summary

This article had very good information about how colleges handle their students activities online. Most students dislike the idea of having their school looking at their Twitter or Facebook, but this article made some very good points.

Why are schools doing this?

Many schools across the nation are going through their students personal Facebooks, Twitters, and other forms of social media looking for bad content. Schools that do this would rather keep their good reputation by not having rude kids on the internet as a part of their school.

As of now, only about 31 percent of schools are doing this, and about 30 percent who do said they found bad content on their student's personal accounts.

Professors and Deans alike believe that a student's posts online really show who they are, and if they have been posting things they'd rather not have their professors see, then maybe they shouldn't be in their school.

Why should you have anything to hide?

Students online already shouldn't be posting rude comments about their peers, yet they do. They feel like the internet is a sort of mask or shield that can hide them from the consequences of their actions.

If a student isn't let into a prestigious school because they talked trash about another student on their Facebook, then good for them. Punishment for your wrongdoings.

If a student gets into a college because they know how to properly use social media, then good for them too. You have self control over what you post.

My thoughts

I believe that the schools who are doing this are doing the right thing. Students should be held responsible for their actions, and not just let in because they had a good GPA. After all, many people care a lot more about how you treat others rather than how smart you happen to be.

I was surprised when I heard that some high schools are teaching students to clean their profiles before applying to a college. That's like teaching them to put on a whole new personality so that others will like them. Like I said earlier, students already shouldn't have much to hide.

Something that had me scratching my head was that some students believe it's unfair for others to be let into a school because of their actions online. What makes it unfair? They're not really being rewarded, they're just let in because they show self control. Students who aren't accepted are turned away because professors know that these students could cause trouble, despite their possibly good GPA.

A few last words

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you don't already, watch what you post online. You shouldn't have to make a whole separate Facebook to say that someone's ugly or that you just don't like them. If you don't want schools looking at it, then why are you posting it online for the world to see anyway? You are what you post, and schools nowadays recognize this.