Classroom Bullies On The Internet

peter303 writes "Oldtimers are familiar with sociopaths in usenet newsgroups and chat rooms. The NY Times has an article about grade school kids who bully on the Internet. These include message bombing and slanderous web pages. The web allows one to extend bad manners from real life."

Comments

Heh

[antifoidulus]

Kids may want to watch that they don't piss off the wrong person on the internet.
In Japan a girl slit the throat of another girl over insulting comments made over the internet.

I used to teach at Horace Mann

[word munger]

Horace Mann, one of the schools used in the examples, is where I did my student teaching, many moons ago. It is one of the most prestigious private schools in the nation. This was pre-IM, pre-Web, and the students were just about as mean to each other in person as they were online.

Excellent

[Le Marteau]

I think that's great. The sooner kids realize how f***ed up the American ethos is, and that the American mythos is in fact insane, the sooner they'll get to working on going beyond it. Instead of the little conformists becoming adult conformists, perhaps the brutality of their peers will cause them to begin to question societal norms, and begin to think for themselves.

I was taunted brutally as a kid, and I consider it a blessing. I am a much better man because of it.

Re:Excellent

[wwest4]

> perhaps the brutality of their peers will cause them to begin to question
> societal norms, and begin to think for themselves.

First, this phenomenon is not unique to the "American ethos" (talk about a moving conceptual target). Second, there must be a better way than trial by fire... because I would wager that for every person who emerges stronger from brutal abuse, there is at least one other who emerges completely screwed up, or worse, indoctrinated into the cycle of abuse, ready to bully someone else when the time comes (i.e. when they have smaller friends, siblings, kids, or a spouse).

How about teaching our kids how not to bully, protecting them from others who do bully, and providing the opportunity for treatment of those who exhibit bullying behavior? This goes regardless of the medium - physical or verbal abuse can both be devastating to a vulnerable person.

Re:Child Pornography

[mrzaph0d]

ok, not that lazy...

here