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Character and Integrity in Leadership Training
Digital Citizenship article on June 1, 2021 is found on the GrowingLeaders.com website.
Here is a current article worth sharing! It speaks to character development and what we have the opportunity to teach in our Christian discipleship. That applies to our youth in leadership both “on and off” their Brigade attendance. I think in today’s cultural climate, we can’t emphasize this matter of integrity often enough.
Here are some choice lines from the article.
The Supreme Court seems close to issuing a ruling in the case of a student who was kicked off her high school cheerleading team due to an obscene Snapchat post.
The dispute in the courtroom is clear: Is this her “free speech” right or should Brandi be penalized for such language outside of school, which goes against the cheerleading team rules? Further, is a social media post subject to the same rules as the language used on her campus?
With all due respect to the leaders, judges, and attorneys involved, it appears to me that they’re engaged in the wrong argument. While I understand the litigation involved regarding geographical location, shouldn’t we be more concerned about digital citizenship, regardless of where those students are?
We either teach our students the value of civility wherever they go (in-person or digital), or we teach them they don’t have to be civil.
This court case is a vivid illustration of how we are still figuring out the role of social media in society. We were all ambushed by its omnipresence and don’t quite know how to curb its negative impact on both kids and adults. Social media is, indeed, ubiquitous, and it’s a game changer. Geographical location is a lesser issue, and responsible decision-making is the bigger issue.
If I’m right — that this issue is really a social and emotional one — then, civility and self-management are as important for students to learn as math and language. What good is it to graduate students who know how to parse a verb, but can’t manage their emotions at work? If we don’t figure this out, we’ll continue to see cyberbullying, narcissistic outrage, sexting, and even threats of violence increase.
She will recover and hopefully learn a lesson from this. She may even make the cheer team next year if she learns the lesson: I must discipline myself so someone else doesn’t have to. That’s digital citizenship.
Sharing for our mutual edification (building up),
Arden Musselman
For the full article see the link at Growing Leaders.
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