Should schools monitor students online activities

As more and more students become able to access the internet every day, related issues have been more frequently occurred including cyberbullying. It has been actively discussed whether it is desirable for schools to monitor students’ online behaviors. While some people insist that it would be better not to do it, I believe it would be better to do it for the following reasons.
Firstly, schools may be the only option to manage students’ online activities. It is clearly necessary to regulate students’ online activities, especially if students are young, as they might misbehave without realizing whether it is undesirable or how it is problematic. The 1st reading passage reported that there are varied types of children’s online misbehaviors - such as ignoring age restrictions, texting to unknowns, or exposing their personal information, and it is fairly frequently happening. However, not many parents are aware of the issues and the proper way to manage children’s online activities. If parents cannot take the role to guide students to use the internet safely, I believe schools should take this role. In this regard, I support the opinion regarding the necessity of students’ online behavior monitoring by schools.
Secondly, students’ undesirable behaviors may result in traumatic experiences (i.e., cyberbullying) for other students. According to the 2nd reading passage, among teenagers, the number of cyberbullying has been increasing, and some cases were severe even inducing suicidal thoughts. The time as teenagers is important in their lifetime because it is time to understand who they really are and what they would like to pursue during their life. For this reason, traumatic events during this time can be far more critical than any other time, and it is necessary to stop them with all the methods that schools can try. Thus, I suggest that schools need to supervise their students’ online activities to prevent the tragedy happens.
Thirdly, students’ online behavior monitoring will enhance the safety of school life. The internet can be where serious criminals are firstly planned and started. The 3rd reading passage is explaining a previous example of it – a boy who illegally possessed a gun and threatened others. If schools are able to detect possible risks in advance through a certain method, including smartphone screening applications, the extent of safety at school will be enhanced. Therefore, I insist that it would be a good idea for schools to monitor how students are using the internet.
I acknowledge that there are still several problems to deal with before starting monitoring students’ online activities. It might include refining related laws and regulations to avoid privacy-related issues. However, all in all, I believe that monitoring students’ online behaviors will be beneficial for reasons including I abovementioned.