As of this year, 34 of the United States of America have laws in place that relate to cyberbullying, electronic harassment or bullying among minors in a school context. Every state has some sort of law in place that addresses related issues such as cyberstalking or cyberharassment, which do not necessarily relate to students specifically. Details of these laws and links to their respective codes can be found at the NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures). It’s good that these laws are in place, but students need to know what these laws are and what, if any, consequences or teeth that they might bear or bare, as the case may be. The laws are there, but often the awareness is not. It’s a bit like the intergalactic hyperspace highway plans stored in the basement of some government agency in Douglas Adams'”Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” explaining to the public that their planet would soon be removed as part of the construction process and that they had better find another place to live. When the earth residents seem affronted at the inevitable and precipitous destruction, they are calmly told that the plans had been there for decades; they merely had to look at them if they wanted to be informed.
We want our students to be informed, even if they don’t know that they should be. The consequences of bullying (for both victims and perpetrators) are too serious and potentially permanent to be ignored. There have already been many cases of cyberbullying that have led to suicide. We know that much. We also know that material flung into the sticky web of the internet has a way of hanging around for a long time, and possibly permanently. The spoken word or the physical push does not usually leave a traceable and permanent record. Barbed words and malicious images downloaded into cyberspace, however, can replicate at an amazing rate and be stored forever.
Every school should have a visible and intentional policy in place that relates to cyberbullying. Students should know in detail what sort of behavior is unacceptable and what are the immediate consequences of that behavior. They should understand that what they do in high school in cyberspace can follow them to college and on into their early job searches. There are many good things about being able to quickly connect with the rest of the world, but students should also be aware of how visible their online activities are.
My daughter in high school was not aware of any cyberbullying incidents at her own school, but she knew about the sorts of things that had gone on in other areas. At our school, we do have some specific policies in place that address this sort of thing, but the information should be more visible and accessible, and the parents need to be better informed. Misuse of computers needs to have definite consequences as well. Currently, a student may lose a cell phone or iPhone for a day if it is being misused, but when caught computer gaming on a laptop, for example, on school grounds during the instructional day, there is no real consequence besides being asked to stop. Perhaps we need to have some firm rules and consequences in place. This is one area that will be addressed by the colleagues from my school in our final project for this current COETAIL course.
Thanks, Ruth. The bottom line here is that bullying is bullying. The digital element seems to make bullying an easier practice for some because it can be carried out without a face-to-face interaction. Nonetheless, it consists of the same type of harassment and hurtful language and actions from one student to another that has been going on in schools forever. While considering the big picture, the numbers of suicides that have been attributed exclusively to bullying are few, as it is often hard to determine the exact cause of this extreme action. While bullying is most probably a contributing factor in these instances, there might be other reasons that lead these young people to tragically end their lives. In the Opinion Pages of a September issue of the New York Times, this was the topic of Room for Debate. (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/09/30/cyberbullying-and-a-students-suicide) It’s worth a look. Most of the articles are written by law professors. I agree that individuals should be held accountable for the harassment of a fellow human being, but I’m not convinced that more legislation will bring the idea forward. I believe that we have a responsibility in our schools to understand bullying and help our students make responsible behavioral decisions when it comes to social interaction. Respect and tolerance has to be a part of the culture of every school. My colleagues, and I, as part of our final project, are looking at this issue as well. It is our goal to formulate a statement in our AUP that not only addresses individual responsibility, but includes appropriate consequences for harassment of any type. Thanks again for a great post.
There is possibly one thing about cyber-bullying that we, as teachers, can use to our advantage, and that is the ease of being able to track down the bullies. We just follow their digital footprints. The evidence is easier to collect and harder for the bully to deny. We will strive to include a succinct but powerful statement about responsible use of digital social interaction in our updated AUP as well. Thanks for the link.
This is a great look at the problem. While we can’t expect there to be a defined consequence to every different specific action, having definitions of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and starting a discussion around cyberbullying is very important. It’s great that the project for this course could be directly relevant in helping correct some of these issues at your school!