The Rhetorical Analysis of “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?”
Answers
Answer:
The article “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” is written by Dana L. Fleming and appears in the winter 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Higher Education. Fleming’s objective with this article is to show college students the dangers of social networking sites, and at the same time she is advising parents on the social networking world.
In this article she is giving us a look into the damage that social networks can do to students in their job, school, and life. She talks about the millions of members that are already using these sites and that they still growing. The members use these sites to make friends, find old friends, and to talk to friends. “The only requirement a user will need is an email address and a willingness to share his or her “profile” with other users.”(qtd in Fleming 441)
Fleming warns students of the dangers in using your personal pages; she tells the readers how it can be used against the student when applying for jobs, scholarships, and can be used against them in the court of law. She explains how one intern lost her opportunity for the job, after the college checked out her Facebook page, they read that her interest included “smoking blunts, shooting people, and obsessive sex.” (441)
While giving all the reasons effecting college students, the author explains how social networking can affect younger children, also. She gives tells how one young girl was beaten and raped by three men who appeared to be her friends on Myspace. Same type scenario happened in Texas, where a young girl lied about her age, and then met up with an older guy only to be sexually assaulted.
Answer:
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Explanation:
ESSAY
Higher education law attorney Dana L. Fleming voices her controversial opinion in favor of institutionalized involvement in social network protection in her article “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” (Fleming). Posted in the New England Journal of Higher Education, winter of 2008 issue, Fleming poses the question of responsibility in monitoring students’ online social networking activities. With a growing population of students registering on social networks like Facebook and MySpace, she introduces the concern of safety by saying, “like lawmakers, college administrators have not yet determined how to handle the unique issues posed by the public display of their students’ indiscretions.” However, while Dana Fleming emphasizes the horror stories of social networking gone-bad, she neglects the many positive aspects of these websites and suggests school involvement in monitoring these sites when the role of monitoring should lie with parents or the adult user.
Fleming begins her argument by paralleling the transformative properties of the invention of the telephone years ago to social networks today (Fleming). But, Fleming states that “students’ online identities and friendships come at a price, as job recruiters, school administrators, law enforcement officers and sexual predators sign on and start searching” (Fleming). Social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook are frequented favorites, especially by college students. These sites have become so popular that “friending” a person is now a dictionary verb. However, Fleming believes that students are not as cautious as they should be. In fact, “thirty percent of students report accepting ‘friend’ reques...
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...versities seem to be infringing on personal liberties awarded by the first amendment and excusing away this illegal behavior by calling it a “privacy” concern. While students should no doubt be aware of online privacy concerns social networking brings, it is not the role of colleges to monitor such things. Besides this, Fleming even admits “there is no practical way for colleges to monitor the content of these sites” (Fleming). This begs the question: Why try to control something one cannot control? Overall, though Fleming’s emotional appeals impress, her logic behind them are spotty and often irrelevant to the concern about privacy for adult college students.
Works Cited
Fleming, Dana L. “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” New England Journal of Higher Education.22.4 (2008): 27-29. Print.