Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is this crazy term that has taken the world by storm in the last few years. I am not trying to be little the topic because it is one that is serious as any. Bullying people through forms of cyber space via the computer (myspace, facebook, and chat rooms to name a few), text messaging, and other forms of interactive technologies. I have no experience with this myself and have never done anything like this; I even have a hard enough time thinking about doing something like this using technology. Call me old school, but I am used the old forms of one on one bullying. Which I was a part of, both ways, but as we get older and smarter so do the mean things that kids do.

Cyberbullying is that hot topic where schools are trying to hold their ground and hold children accountable but when it happens off school grounds…can you still hold them accountable? Do I know the right answer to this, absolutely not, and if I did I would be rich right now. Obviously, this is an area of issue that is happening off school grounds but is being brought day in and day out onto school grounds. And in some of the cases and gotten bad enough that innocent little children have been emotional damaged or even been pushed passed that point and ended their own lives. I would love to say yes we should control this and monitor it as teachers and administrators but where do we draw the line and force some of these parents to be accountable and actually raise these children with dignity and respect. This is a huge moral question for me, where we as teachers can help but it ultimately lies with the parents/guardians.

A plan of action for trying to help this problem is a very puzzling quandary. I have no idea where to start…but I do know that I would start with a pre-emptive attack on the issue. It would be more focused on creating that cohesive safe classroom and letting everyone know they are accepted no matter what. It would be something we would need to hit on but I am not sure how time I would spend on it, but it might be good to scare them a little with some of the facts. I would like to think that me leading by example of respect, dignity, and acceptance would help lead some of them away from that.