Where does the First Amendment end
and cyber bullying begin? As it turns out, The First Amendment never ends, but
it does not protect you from slandering someone else or impeding their personal
freedoms. This is one of the things that Cyber bullying does and, so long as it
happens within school or is undeniably related to school, school systems have
some control over it. Censorship of cyberbullying follows ten rules listed in
this chapter that are designed to help a school system know their boundaries
and their rights to preventing and removing cyberbullying. The chapter also
makes a note that, just as the First Amendment itself, these rules are not
always 100%, but they do the job more often than not.
The
first rule recognizes the First Amendment as a real and pertinent document to
students. The subsequent rules recognize the school’s rights in different
circumstances, both on and off campus. The
School does not always have the right to interfere in certain circumstances,
but it can get involved when the bullying happens on school grounds or in
reference to the school.
Given
the importance of online student communication in the classroom, it is essential
for me as an instructor to be familiar with my ability to be involved with
cyber bullying. While I feel the school should do all in its power to help
students who are also victims in any circumstance through whatever means the
system can, it is nice to be informed of the exact instances where we can
interact and pose our own enforcement.
The
other side of this set of rules is equally important, as it does recognize students’
rights to express ideas and opinions that might not agree with what I say in
the classroom, or even my own moral
values. It is my hope that I can encourage students to think critically about
what they believe and understand. So if they can be encouraged to do so by
sharing their feelings with others, without hurting others, they should know they
are always allowed to do so even if those ideas are contrary to the opinions
and ideas of others.
Chapter 11 was very interesting. Cyber bullying is something that teachers definitely should have on their radar. Have you encountered cyber bullying in your classroom? At your school?
ReplyDeleteI've not been targeted in it, but have participated. It feels wrong to say that it didnt have an impact, but the people involved seem to have been able to move on. Compared to the things I have heard of, some name calling over the internet seems really small, but it was wrong to have done regardless.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can see, such activities are very common in high schools now, and I feel that education and compassion are the primary tools for preventing it.