Cyber-Bully

What is cyber-bullying? To my disappointment cyber-bullying is not the idea of making the quintessential 80’s movie bully, Billy Zabka, in to a cyborg/terminator type thing. Sadly it’s not Super Zabka, it is the use of the internet to humiliate and/or threaten others. I personal have no real experience with cyber-bullying, and in fact think it’s rather silly. I definitely see the harm in cyber-bulling when it gets to the level of stealing passwords and altering people’s internet profiles and belonging, but I think most of the rest of what falls under cyber-bulling is pretty minor. My personal feeling on the matter is, if you don’t like something or someone else comments, don’t listen or turn off your computer. Just walk away, who cares what someone else thinks or says about you, they are just words. If it ever escalates to a point of being physical or goes to an extreme well then it should be address with the aid of the law.

Schools are definitely handcuffed by the law and all of the legal issues when dealing with cyber-bulling. So much of cyber-bulling is done off-campus that schools have no real power to take action. Only when it gets to the level of disturbing class or the school environment can action be taken. And even when the school has taken action there is probably a good chance that the school or district could be sued.

I think the signs of a student being cyber-bullied for me will be really hard to spot. I understand the feeling of depression, anxiety, and nervousness, but really it’s on the internet and they’re just words. Use the block button, ignore it or just leave the site or web page. I can’t see how schools can really regulate what is happening off-campus. The only thing I really can think of is blocking most of the social networking sites, like Facebook and MySpace, on campus. In the point-counter-point article, I totally agree that having teacher or administers surfing sites for inappropriate material is more or less a complete waste of time. When need to be teaching not monitoring websites. Can we as teachers teach out students the dangers of cyber-bullying and what it is and how to avoid it? Absolutely, but I don’t see as our job to regulate what is being put on the internet.

In my class, I will be pre-emptive about cyber-bullying. If I use a website or a blog, I will tell my students what is and is not acceptable to say or write. If there is something that they don’t like, don’t look at it. If there someone that is giving them a hard time, block that user or report them for abusive behavior. If there is a need I can have private