Teachers should be allowed to appear on on students’ social media

Ishani Khanna ’25

With the increasing prevalence of social media, teachers are subject to students asking them for a picture, a snap, or a BeReal. Teachers should be allowed to appear on students’ social media as long as the post is respectful. An after-class BeReal or TikTok is fine, but outside of school or without proper permission is inappropriate. It is absolutely suitable if teachers are just in a video or picture for fun, but still, there are certain boundaries that have to be followed in the teacher-student relationship. 

Social media has become an integral part of most teenagers’ everyday lives. Many students at EA are on several social media platforms while at school. Many create funny videos, capture a BeReal, and take snaps on Snapchat multiple times a day. Along with the rise in social media, so has the debate on whether or not students should be allowed to have their teachers to appear in their social media posts. At EA, the teachers and students have a professional relationship, so in some cases, it is absolutely fine for students to feature teachers on their social media. 

The only reasonable debate on the subject would be about the threat to a professional student-teacher relationship. Eshika Tangri ’23 says, “I think that would be appropriate depending on the student-teacher relationship. I think EA teachers and students have relationships where I feel like it would be okay for them to be on [students’] social media accounts.” Kirby Dugan ’23 voices a similar opinion, saying, “I think that there’s no harm if a student wants to take a picture with their class or their teacher. But, I think a teacher following a student on social media is an unusual situation.” 

As long as the faculty who make appearances on social media are professionally playing the role of a teacher, there is no reason why they should not be allowed on students’ social media. Anika Kakarla ’23 comments, “I think that teachers should be allowed on student social media platforms because I don’t think it breaks a barrier of respect or professionalism that we expect from our teachers.” 

While posting teachers on social media during school hours may show them in a proffessional manner, permission from the teacher is still required. Andrea Yu, Upper School Librarian, says, “It should always go back to seeking consent with the idea of you need someone’s permission in order to reproduce their image online, so I think it’s totally fine to ask a teacher if they want to appear in it fully understanding that no is a complete answer with no explanation.” Shannon Crowley, Upper School Computer Science Teacher, adds, “if the teachers doesn’t give their permission, I don’t think a student should take a video or a picture of the teacher while they’re teaching without their consent.”

The relationship that teachers and students share at EA is very professional and respectful because they respect boundaries in their relationships. Kakarla explains, “I definitely don’t think that a TikTok from out of school would be appropriate because I think that it would break that professionalism… and I also think that it would be unprofessional for students and teachers to make social media content even late after school.” 

It is important that the video or posts the student is making with the teacher are during school or sports hours or on school-sanctioned trips. Otherwise, they are not abiding by the proper boundaries of the teacher-student relationship. Brendan Schlitt ’24 shares his insights stating how he does not “think teachers should be in students’ social media because it might give off the wrong message that a teacher has a strange relationship and it should be more professional.” 

At EA, most students and teachers alike are appropriate and careful on social media. Students respect the teacher’s wishes on whether or not they want to be on social media, and when they post with a teacher, the teacher is always playing the role of a teacher, even if it is a funny video. In the end, Tangri adds, that it is important to “make sure they [students and teachers] are not doing anything that could be questioned by either the school or parents of the school, for example, appropriate poses.”