Social media has taken over our children’s lives. Kids tweet, upload instagram pics and update Facebook statuses DURING CLASS.
A high school student learned a lesson he won’t soon forget. Kyron Birdine saw it necessary to express his annoyance with taking what he felt was an unnecessary test. Birdine, a junior at Arlington High School, will be graduating under TAKS testing standards. Regardless, he was made to take the state’s new STAAR standardized test, which was implemented in spring 2012 and won’t affect his graduation or college entrance prospects. Birdine thought that sitting through the test was a waste of time, and he decided to let state and local education officials know about it — via twitter of course.
In the essay section of the STAAR test, Birdine wrote, “I have the TAKS test to study for, not this unneeded craziness,” followed by the acronym “YOLO” (you only live once) and a smiley face. He then took a photo of his response with an iPad and tweeted it at Arlington Independent School District and the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Bold move, huh?
Well his bold move was not without consequence. School officials pulled the boy out of class and suspended him for four days, citing the tweet was a breach of security. They have since released this statement:
Today there was an incident with a student tweeting a picture of an answer booklet for a STAAR field test. We have made an initial report of the incident to TEA and will continue to investigate further. The student has been punished in accordance with district disciplinary procedures.
Lesson learned…