Should students and their teachers become Facebook friends? This is an interesting issue which brings to question many assumptions about the role that teachers play in the lives of their students, which is worth exploring. Not so long ago teachers were authority figures who demanded respect, if not awe, for their superior knowledge and place in society. The teacher under the best of circumstances was not just the bearer and deliverer of wisdom, but was also someone to strive to be like, to emulate.
This explains why students always used to feel uncomfortable when accidentally meeting one of their teachers in the shopping mall or a restaurant. Teachers were beyond the mundane everyday activities which we all participated in with our families and friends. Of course, we knew this wasn’t true, but the society we lived in encouraged the façade in order to raise our teachers up onto a new plane of living.