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UK Schools Will Fight Cyberbullying

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the spreading-in-loco-parentis dept.

Plutonite writes "The BBC is running a story on UK schools being told by the education minister to fight cyberbullying, by which they mean bullying with the aid of (network-based) technology. Schools have been told to confiscate mobile phones, and, more controversially, to investigate and get material removed from personal social-networking sites. Are schools supposed to be doing this as an extension of their duty to prevent physical bullying in school, or is this is yet another example of governmental intervention where it is not due? Should kids be brought up knowing that their life on the web is being documented and controlled by people other than their parents?"

3 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Personal experience in the UK by Ckwop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was bullied extensively in the early part of my school life. My parents reported it to the teacher and when that didn't work, we went to the Headmaster at the school. The abuse did not stop.

    So I changed schools - and I got yet more abuse. We went through the same procedures again and again and again and it was no use. The teachers didn't want to know.

    I finally made it to High School and then I decided this time, it wasn't going to happen again. Some kid tried it on and I opted to belt him one in the nose. His nose was thoroughly broken and he was out of school for a week.

    After that, I was set for the rest of school. Nobody really tried anything on after that. You see the athaphy that I ran in to in my earlier episodes worked to my advantage now. Precisely nothing was done to me and my schooling carried on as normal.

    It seems that these days we attach an "e-" or a "cyber-" on to a pre-existing social problem and suddenly everyone treats the issue as urgent . The problem with such initiatives is there fail to realise that this is a human problem first and a technological problem a distant second.

    The way to deal with bulling in schools is in my view is very simple. The punishment should be swift, harsh and feared. They should be charged with assault or harassment in a full criminal court and ordered to do a suitable amount of community service. Failure to comply should immediately mean jail-time which should be served in school holidays.

    It's a pity that the type of people who bully are the sorts who have violence all around them at home. As such, the only thing they understand is violence. A short, sharp shock may be enough to put them back on the straight and narrow coupled with some kind of therapy. I do not believe such people are beyond help but if left to there own devices, they will become the criminals of tomorrow.

    Simon

    1. Re:Personal experience in the UK by evil_aar0n · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Excellent points, and I agree. "Time outs" and "dialogue" don't do squat. You want to teach a kid not to do something? The judicious application of a bit of minor discomfort - aka "pain" - can go very far. Of course, you can take this to extremes, and it has been, which is why we have parents and other authority figures espousing "time outs" and other useless methods nowadays. "Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone!" they say.

      My own anecdote: I was a little turd in school - nothing serious, but a typical wise-ass. One teacher, one time, lifted me by the hair on the back of my head - I deserved it - and that was it for screwing around in his class. I learned. Kids today learn a different lesson: that they can do whatever they want and no one can touch them. Wrong lesson to teach, in my view.

      Sorry you had to endure that crap as a youth.

      --
      Truth, Justice. Or the American Way.
  2. Experience in UK - my child in US by Darth_Keryx · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Having lived for 5 years in the UK I saw first hand (and to a degree experienced) bullying. I do not know if Americans realize how serious a problem it is in the UK. The kind of cruelty and abuse one reads/sees in "Harry Potter" might seem foreign and unlikely, but let me tell you that is nothing, just a sample, of what "bullying" can mean in British schools. Serious physical and long term psychological damage. There have been known cases of suicide - the only way some poor kid could escape the daily abuse. For the record my experience was mild compared to some. And yes once I started threatening bullies with "I'm taking karate, you can hurt me today, I'll get you next month" it got better. Frightening but true.

    My first point is simply that I am glad British school might be doing something about bullying. Although we can debate whether the solution is entirely legal or appropriate. But the problem is very real.

    Now to cyberbullying...

    My daughter was the very first victim of cyberbullying at her rather elite private school here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Yes a personal detail.) Pretty bad, although could have been worse. Her teachers cared and tried to take action against the students involved. The administration did squat and hung us out to dry. She handled it well, but over the course of that year (because her parents took it very seriously) she was ostracized, and quickly students and administrators alike got into a "blame the victim" pattern. Her grades plummeted. Often talked about killing herself, yadda yadda yadda. Friendships (such as between us and other parents) ended over this because they would not hold their children accountable. (In a new school now, thriving, grades shot up to A's and 100's. Go figure.)

    Again - my point is simply "cyberbullying is also a serious and real problem that causes real observable damage".

    Whether such policies are legal, enforceable, and so on - that is quite debatable. The website provider (a kind of Facebook for kids) actually took the site down when we complained (we think). Good for them. Violation of policy. The school took the "well, not our network/computers, therefore we can't do anything" line. (Photos of my child were clearly taken at school. Uh...) Technically might be correct. I don't know. My final point is, "Even if schools cannot legally police and enforce every last dang website or IM or whatever... *something* needs to be done by *someone*". The problem is bloody real and so is the damage this kind of filth.

    I appreciate and sympathize with concerns about privacy and excessive government intrusion and all that. I really do. But what then shall we do? Unless we want to deny the seriousness of this problem?