Hoffman, J. (June2010). "Online Bullies Pull Schools Into the Fray." The New York Times.
OVERVIEW
Stopping or curbing physical and/or emotional bullying in schools is no easy task, but add to it the newest form of bullying to emerge in this technological age and it is near impossible to keep kids from being impacted by bullying both in and outside the school. According to a study done in 2010 by the Cyberbullying Research Center, one in five middle school students in the United States have been affected by cyber bullying (defined as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through phones and computers.”)
One of the key debates in
this issue, according to this article, is where the responsibility lies:
Whether resolving such conflicts should be the responsibility of the family, the police or the schools remains an open question, evolving along with definitions of cyberbullying itself.
What makes dealing with cyberbulling in the schools even more complicated is that when administrators do decide to intervene, they face both pragmatic and legal constraints. Legal and constitutional questions arise such as:
- Does suspending a student who posts a video on
YouTube that cruelly demeans another student violate his or her right to
privacy and free speech?
- Can a principle or a teacher legally search a
student’s private cell phone much like they would a locker or a backpack?
- Can school teachers and/or administrators intervene in cases of cyberbulling when it takes place off school grounds?
The impersonal nature of
electronic communication (communication via the internet or through cell
phones) is fast becoming a major issue in the battle against bullying. More and
more students are preferring using their text messages or computers to interact
rather than face-to-face communication, and this “makes it harder and harder
for them to understand what’s a real friendship.”
A student from Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood, N.J., the scene of a recent controversy involving a male student sending sexually explicit threats to a female student via text massage, commented that students “had so many fights in the seventh grade, and that “none of them were face-to-face. We were too afraid. Besides, it’s easier to say ‘sorry’ over a text.”
Another student agreed: “It’s easier to fight online, because you feel more brave and in control. On Facebook, you can be as mean as you want.”
Studies show that cyberbullying can begin as early as fourth grade, and that by the time a student reaches high school students have become more and more technologically gifted and thus capable of much more invasive internet or text bullying. In this climate, it is easy to understand how this has become such a pervasive issue in our culture.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION & DISCUSSION
- Have you or someone you know been victim of
cyberbulling?
- Given the issues mentioned above, what can
schools and/or parents do to curb this form of bullying?
- Do you agree or disagree with the notion that school principles and administrators have just as much of a right to search student’s electronic property as they do backpacks and lockers? Why or why not?
IMPLICATIONS
- All forms of bullying, from cyber to
person-to-person, are major issues in our culture and it is increasingly
obvious that more needs to be done to deter these behaviors.
- Students learn much more about relationships
and proper behavior through face-to-face contact than they do through text
messaging, Facebook or other forms of electronic communication. We
therefore need to encourage children and youth to develop relationships
apart from technology.
Chris Lloyd, cCYS