Gathering Around the Firepit: How Schools Miss the Point of Social Networking

In a profession that is primarily behavioral, I find it astounding that basic human behavior is so frequently ignored when establishing policies and objectives. You would think that educators of all people--educators who have to manage behavior and maintain motivation in students from ages 5 through 18--would have a better grasp of what makes people of all ages tick.

But for some wrong-headed reason we can quote and reqoute Mazlow's Hierarchy of Needs as if it were holy writ, but blithely ignore the social needs that Mazlow placed in the hierarchy directly after our most basic needs are met.

News flash. People like each other, want to gather together, communicate with each other, and seek out opportunities to do so. Frequently this innate human drive to be social is tied to new technologies. In fact, people have invented all sorts of devices that make it easier for us to be with each other in some fashion. Not to mention elaborate and complex ceremonies and traditions, going all the way back to the days of shamans performing a story at the fire pit with masks and other props to better communicate with his audience.

Why then do we insist on controlling the adults in our educational environment and denying them the opportunity to do what their basic nature drives them to do? How is it that we can ignore the benefits of professional discourse in a social environment aided by technology? How is social networking different from faculty meetings that include some social time, or the time we spend around the copy machine discussing the days events and how it impacts our lives, or the lunch time conversations with co-workers that are far-ranging and even fun, or the time we spend in small group meetings complaining about the boss and the latest stupid edict from on high?

Humans need, desire, crave, and seek out these opportunities. And in a world where it only takes a few minutes to create a blog, online forum, wiki, or to take advantage of existing networks of educators and a dynamic world of sharing and collaboration, why is it that we consistently make this harder than it has to be by placing restrictions on what can be done with the technology available?

Why block instead of embrace? Why have so many school districts taken the position that each and every blog or social web site of any kind is inherently, I don't know, evil in some way? That (literally) any web site that allows you to register and personalize your online experience is one that you ought to be kept far away from.

The thing is, we're going to find a way to get together anyway. We're humans. We've been doing it for tens of thousands of years. What's fundamentally changed is our access to new technologies. But our basic desire to be together and share our experience and our lives is one that hasn't changed all that much from the time of the shaman at the firepit.

Sat Sep 13, 2008