Why aren't Ontario's schools embracing social media?

Earlier this fall Premier Dalton McGuinty came out in support for using cellphones in schools as a tool for engaging students, he was promptly attacked in the media for the suggestion. Now reports have surfaced that school boards across Ontario are reducing media literacy training and are hesitant about using social media to educate students. Both of these developments are problematic in that the reasoning deployed clings to an old-fashioned and flawed understanding of technology - students today desperately need expanding training in: media literacy, privacy, web-based research skills, and technology. Students need to be engaged on their own terms, not on ancient notions of what education is or isn't. The education system in Ontario needs to get innovative in deploying emerging technologies to engage students, to do anything less is a disservice to Ontario's greatest resource. This wouldn't even be difficult as the post-secondary education sector in some quarters is doing a reasonable job using social media. For my previous writing on social media, technology, millennials, and emerging trends in education, see: here, here, and here.