School expulsions - Worrying naïvety

At least three of the day’s great issues come together in the case of the expulsions of four pupils from Oatlands College in Dublin after extremely abusive remarks about teachers were posted on Facebook.

The first is the opportunity afforded by websites for the kind of attacks on an individual that could not be contemplated on a one-to-one basis. The second is the vulnerability of teachers to aggressive, disruptive individuals. Maybe the most worrying of all is the naïvety, callousness, immaturity, and disconnect with the consequences of their actions by four young adults.