All Kinds of Wrong
Apr. 3rd, 2007 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morrigirlFrom the Mar. 11, 2007 Ethicist column in The New York Times Magazine:
"I interview high-school seniors who apply to my alma mater. I routinely Google these students and discovered that one posted information on his blog that reflects poorly on him. May I ask him about the blog? May I mention it to the university? Should it affect the score I give him? — Keith Lublin, West Bloomfield, Mich.
Put down the mouse and step away from the computer. You should not Google these students in the first place, let alone make your dubious discoveries a factor in college acceptance.
You would not read someone’s old-fashioned pen-and-paper diary without consent; you should regard a blog similarly. Your reading this student’s blog is legal — he posted it voluntarily, and in that sense it is public information — but not every young person grasps this. Many unwisely regard their blogs as at least semiprivate. You should not exploit their youthful folly. Indeed, so befogged are students about online postings — especially to FaceBook, MySpace and the like — that universities commonly devote a portion of freshman orientation to wising them up.
Phillip Burns, who works in the office of student conduct at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, says, “Many of us in the field have put great time and energy into educating our students on the potential risks involved with online communities and want them to realize how — once posted — that information is out there for pretty much anyone to see and use.” U.N.L.V. itself does not seek out online information in evaluating applicants.
Because such material will not be considered for most students, it is unfair to subject your interviews to this additional scrutiny. What’s more, such online info is unreliable, even when posted by the person himself, as many an Internet dater has learned to her peril. Not every six-foot guy with a head of rich luxuriant hair would be recognized as such. Not in person. Not by his wife. (He’s married? That liar! That tiny, bald liar!)
As to this blog affecting your view of the student, how can it not? You can’t unread it. It’s bound to influence you, and that is part of the problem.
UPDATE: Lublin checked with the university and was told not to ask the student about the blog but to include its URL with his report."
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If the results of a Google search will be used to evaluate college applicants those applicants deserve to know. Point blank. The college application check list should include "Clean up your online persona" along with "Two letters of recommendation." Colleges require that specific things, (recommendations, educational history, resume etc.) be submitted because they are things the school views as relevant in evaluating the applicant's ability to succeed at their institution. If they suddenly decide a person's online life is a good indicater of whether or not they will be a successful student then all applicants should be informed that that aspect of their lives will be evaluated. To not inform them, or to only use the information to evaluate certain students is unfair and biased. Same goes for employers who Google job applicants and failing to inform them that the information gleaned from such searches will be considered in the hiring process.
"I interview high-school seniors who apply to my alma mater. I routinely Google these students and discovered that one posted information on his blog that reflects poorly on him. May I ask him about the blog? May I mention it to the university? Should it affect the score I give him? — Keith Lublin, West Bloomfield, Mich.
Put down the mouse and step away from the computer. You should not Google these students in the first place, let alone make your dubious discoveries a factor in college acceptance.
You would not read someone’s old-fashioned pen-and-paper diary without consent; you should regard a blog similarly. Your reading this student’s blog is legal — he posted it voluntarily, and in that sense it is public information — but not every young person grasps this. Many unwisely regard their blogs as at least semiprivate. You should not exploit their youthful folly. Indeed, so befogged are students about online postings — especially to FaceBook, MySpace and the like — that universities commonly devote a portion of freshman orientation to wising them up.
Phillip Burns, who works in the office of student conduct at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, says, “Many of us in the field have put great time and energy into educating our students on the potential risks involved with online communities and want them to realize how — once posted — that information is out there for pretty much anyone to see and use.” U.N.L.V. itself does not seek out online information in evaluating applicants.
Because such material will not be considered for most students, it is unfair to subject your interviews to this additional scrutiny. What’s more, such online info is unreliable, even when posted by the person himself, as many an Internet dater has learned to her peril. Not every six-foot guy with a head of rich luxuriant hair would be recognized as such. Not in person. Not by his wife. (He’s married? That liar! That tiny, bald liar!)
As to this blog affecting your view of the student, how can it not? You can’t unread it. It’s bound to influence you, and that is part of the problem.
UPDATE: Lublin checked with the university and was told not to ask the student about the blog but to include its URL with his report."
.................................................................................................
If the results of a Google search will be used to evaluate college applicants those applicants deserve to know. Point blank. The college application check list should include "Clean up your online persona" along with "Two letters of recommendation." Colleges require that specific things, (recommendations, educational history, resume etc.) be submitted because they are things the school views as relevant in evaluating the applicant's ability to succeed at their institution. If they suddenly decide a person's online life is a good indicater of whether or not they will be a successful student then all applicants should be informed that that aspect of their lives will be evaluated. To not inform them, or to only use the information to evaluate certain students is unfair and biased. Same goes for employers who Google job applicants and failing to inform them that the information gleaned from such searches will be considered in the hiring process.
