Discussion Question 3

1. Cyberbullying
In January 2010, the Boston Herald reported that several Massachusetts high school students were questioned and suspended from school following the suicide of a teenage girl at their school. Friends and school officials reported the 15-year-old girl had been bullied by several male students at school and online since moving to Massachusetts from another country. The bullies allegedly reported they taunted the teen through text messages, Facebook, and other social networking sites. It is not clear why the young girl committed suicide but you have to consider the horrible influence of bullying and cyber-bullying. The news reported that, even after her death, the bullies continued cyberbullying by posting disparaging messages on her Facebook memorial page. Cyberbullying continues to be a growing problem in F2F and online school programs. There are two types of cyberbullying: direct attacks, which are messages or posts sent directly to the person, and cyberbullying by proxy, which is using others to help cyberbully the victim. What would you do if you overheard students in your class talking about a group of students who are sending cruel messages to other students? You are not sure if this is bullying or if the teenagers are having relationship issues. Should you look deeper into this situation? What are the first steps you should take? If this is a case of cyberbullying, what procedures and organizations are available to help you and the student before the situation develops further?

A:
Bullying, both cyber and direct, have been a problem since the dawn of children and interpersonal relationships on the playground.  Bullying has no place in any educational setting.  It is detrimental to the development of healthy, happy adults, and should be closely regulated by teachers and administration to ensure the safety of all students.
As a teacher, if I was to encounter a situation where students were discussing cyber bullying another student I would feel an obligation to investigate the situation for the safety of the students involved.  There should be a no tolerance policy in all schools, and within my classroom there would be such policies regardless of institutional support.  I would feel an obligation to the student being bullied to investigate and use all resources at my disposal to facilitate justice in this situation.  My first step would be to have a conversation with the student who was mentioned as being bullied.  Ask the student if he/she is experiencing problems with other students, and how I could be a help to the student to stop the bullying.  If the student expresses problems or concerns, the resources available to educators should be the support of their administration and parent/teacher organizations.  I would instruct the student to keep records of the bullying, and be a mediator between the student and the administration to resolve the situation.
Bullying is not a joke and should not be taken lightly.  It ruins lives and creates problems for bullied individuals.  I would be an advocate on the part of the bullied in order to send a message that bullying will not be tolerated, because it has no place in an educational situation.