Archive for the ‘Cyber Bullying’ Category

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Facebook is a Haven for Bullies

May 27, 2011

When you put the responsibility of having a Facebook page in the hands of young children, you will find that most will use it in the right way.  Unfortunately, it’s those that don’t who spoil it for the rest of them.

MELBOURNE schools and police are battling to remove a Facebook page that allows teenagers to post vile gossip about their peers.

Teachers feel powerless to stop the site, which has resurfaced in various forms over the past month and left students at schools in Ivanhoe and Heidelberg needing counselling.

Parents have been shocked by postings on the page, which include allegations of sex between teachers and students, girls who trade sex for drugs and boys who have been caught wearing their mothers’ clothing.

Most parents were unaware their children had been vilified until notified by their school.

The ”Ivanhoe Goss” page is filled with comments sent by members to the group’s creator, who reposts them anonymously. One page seen by The Age had more than 2300 members.

Schools including Ivanhoe Grammar School, Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School and Marcellin College are implicated in the gossip, but it is believed students from other parts of Melbourne are also members.

And similar Facebook pages have been set up for students in Essendon, Dandenong, Glenferrie and Caulfield.

Ivanhoe Grammar principal Rod Fraser said public and private schools in the region had banded together when the site was discovered on April 13 to raise the alarm with parents and students. The site is believed to have been created as a public page on April 10, but was re-created as a private page about a week later after schools warned students about being involved in cyber-bullying.

Mr Fraser said police and Facebook had been contacted about the page and were investigating those responsible. Three students and their families had been given support after gossip was posted about them on the page, and the school had developed a website to provide information on cyber safety.

”This great thing that we have, technology, can also be insidious,” he said.

Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School principal Heather Schnagl said ”less than five” students had been disciplined for being involved on the site. But no student had been suspended or expelled.

Two students had been counselled after being bullied.

”We deeply regret the poor judgment shown by any student who visits or posts a comment on a site like that one,” Dr Schnagl said.

”One of the biggest challenges … is many parents don’t understand the digital landscape today and … they trust their children rather than maintaining the role of the parent.

”We want to empower our parents to work with us to help students … They are shocked when they are shown what their daughter has posted.”

And some want to alter the age requirement  and allow kids less than 13 to get a Facebook page?

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Tips For Dealing With Cyber Bullies

May 24, 2011

Cyberbullying has never been more prevalent.  It is extremely important that parents, teachers and children are well versed with the symptoms and responses to cyberbullying:

Once relegated to schoolyard fist fights or cafeteria name-calling, bullying has taken on a new form in the digital age — it’s as simple as a hitting a few keyboard strokes or sending touch-screen texts.

But cyberbullying can have far more negative consequences than the schoolyard variety because it can be done anywhere and the damage can be widespread, said Merve Lapus, education program manager for Common Sense Media. The nonprofit is dedicated to providing information to families and schools for dealing with media and technology.

“On the schoolyard, when you’re being bullied to your face, you can leave and you can go home and be away from it,” he told a crowd of parents at Amador Valley High School on Thursday night. “When you have it on your mobile phone or online, it’s there all the time.”

The informational session was hosted by Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, the Pleasanton school district and the Pleasanton PTA Council.

McNerney, who said he was hoping to provide parents with tools and techniques as well as to learn more himself, has fielded concerns from constituents about the subject.

“There certainly has been a lot of interest,” he said.

Many parents have also requested help from their parent-teacher associations about how to deal with cyberbullying and ensure their kids are safe online, said Jodie Vashistha.

“The kids know a lot more about this than we do,” she said.

“There’s a need for more parent (education).”

Cyberbullying occurs when an offender sends or posts harmful materials or engages in other forms of social cruelty by using the Internet or other technology, Lapus said .

He said cyberbullies often feel some anonymity because the person they are harassing is not in front of them. And others can easily make it more harmful by forwarding on messages.

“A lot of kids that are being bullied are being bullied by bystanders that don’t necessarily know what’s going on. They’re just jumping on the bandwagon,” he said.

The main thing parents can do is empower students to make better decisions and educate them on how to properly use sites like Facebook to make them “upstanders,” Lapus said.

In Pleasanton, the majority of cyberbullying cases occur between fifth through ninth grades, said Kevin Johnson, the district’s senior director of pupil services.

That comes as no surprise to parent Paul Faris, a dean at Fallon Middle School in Dublin, whose children attend Pleasanton schools.

“They have the ability to put the gas on, but they’re not able to apply the brake,” he said.

Like several of those present, Faris said responsibility ultimately lies with parents to ensure their children use technology appropriately.

School district staff members are currently addressing the issue by developing a social media policy that will be brought to the school board for adoption.

  • Give kids a code of conduct. Tell them if they wouldn’t say something to someone’s face, they shouldn’t text it, instant message it or post it.
  • Ask if they know someone who has been cyberbullied. Sometimes they will open up about other’s pain before admitting their own
  • Establish consequences for bullying behavior.
  • Monitor their media use.
  • Tell kids not to share passwords with friends.
  • Use privacy settings.
  • Remind them all private information can be made public.
  • Tell kids what to do if they’re harassed: Block bullies and inform parents or trusted adults. Save evidence in case it is needed for reporting.

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Mark Zuckerberg Against Facebook Age Restrictions

May 23, 2011

Should we be surprised that Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, thinks kids under 13 should be able to have their own Facebook pages?  I’m sure the founder of cigarette companies are only too happy to lower age restrictions on their products too.

You might think that my comparison is quite gratuitous, and I suppose it is, but one cannot properly articulate the damage inflicted on  cyber bullied children.

Zuckerberg thinks he can protect these kids:

“My philosophy is that for education, you need to start at a really young age”, said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the New Schools Summit in California, about why he thinks children under the age of 13 should be allowed to be Facebook members. Currently the age restriction requires that one be thirteen years or older to get a Facebook log on ID, but of course it is not difficult to avoid this and create an account anyway. Consumer Reports recently reported that there are about 7.5 million children under the age of 13 on Facebook.

Zuckerberg explained that, in his view, software and technology will help students learn a lot from one another, and that if COPPA were lifted, “we’d start to learn what works. We’d take a lot of precautions to make sure that they [younger children] are safe. “ COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, makes it illegal for web sites to collect information on children under the age of 13.

However, amidst growing concern about online privacy in general, lifting COPPA may be optimistic. Senator John Rockefeller on Thursday question Facebook Chief Technology Officer on Capital Hill saying: “I want you to defend your company here because I don’t know how you can.”

Zuckerberg’s assurances are not in the least bit reassuring.  There is no way they can properly ensure the safety of children.  And why would they need to, if they only let kids be kids?  So they wait until 13 to use Facebook?  I’ve said it before.  Why would a 12-year old need a Facebook page anyway?

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Posted in Cyber Bullying, Social Media | 3 Comments »

Cyberbullying Even More Prevalent Among Girls

May 18, 2011

A recent survey found that girls are especially affected by cyberbullying:

Tweens and teens are both flocking to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to stay connected with each other. While used correctly this can be a positive thing the sites are also being used as weapons to facilitate cyberbullying.

Norton Canada recently completed a study called The Norton Cyberbullying Survey asking Canadian parents about their children’s online experiences. A quarter of the parents said that their child had been involved in a cyberbullying incident. Of those children 66 percent of the parents said their child was a victim and 16 percent admitted that their child was the bully.
More shocking is that 32 percent of parents are unsure of their children’s online behaviours but 44 percent fear that their child’s online behaviour could involve coming in contact with an online predator.

While on the schoolyard the victims of bullies often are male when it comes to the cyberspace playground girls are the ones being bullied. Parents revealed that 86 percent of those bullied were their daughters compared to a rate of 55 percent when it came to their sons.

Computers are not the only tools being used as a weapon for cyberbullying. Cyberbullies turn to cell phones with middle schoolers using this tool more often.

Even though it’s not legal for children under the age of 13 to access social networking sites 43 percent of parents are comfortable when their children aged 8-12 have an account as long as the parents can supervise them. While almost half of parents claim they have an open dialogue with their children about their online behaviour 32 percent feel that they can’t control all the environments where their children have access to social networking. This access includes what their children are doing in school.

One wonders how parents can be comfortable with their underage children on Facebook considering these damning statistics.  Firstly, aiding your children in breaking a law is not a good example to set, and secondly, supervising your child’s internet and social media use is easier said than done.  Why does an 8-year old need a Facebook page anyway?

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Encouraging Kids to Use Social Media is Not the Way to Go

May 2, 2011

My experiences in teaching has taught me that while we try to empower our kids to act responsibly at all times, reality suggests that the message doesn’t always filter through.  Sometimes, as unfair or overbearing as it sounds, it is simply naive to suggest that children can act with the responsibility and maturity required to warrant the rights and privileges of older individuals.

Facebook is a two-edged sword.  It has its benefits.  But even adults can’t ignore that there are risks to privacy involved.  The call to bring down the age restrictions of Facebook users from 13, to accommodate Primary students lacks foresight and ultimately makes little sense.  Sure you can teach them about privacy settings and warn them about cyber-bullying and cyber-safety, but sadly, there will always be frequent cases of misuse and bullying should the current restrictions be softened.

Soraya Darabi, social media correspondent for ABC America, disagrees:

PRIMARY school students should be receiving lessons in how to make the most of social media and how to protect themselves from its dangers and pitfalls, says a US specialist.

Soraya Darabi, social media correspondent for ABC America, says platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and a raft of newer sites have taken social media to a point where kids need to know how to control what they post online.

“We’re reaching the point where schools should be teaching best practice for social media, right from primary school age, and the importance of protecting their images and information online,” says Darabi.

“They need to know, for instance, that if they are using Twitter they should only be conveying information they are happy to have recorded in the Library of Congress for all time, because that is what’s happening.”

Four years ago, at the age of 23, Darabi helped The New York Times move into social media and she has more than 400,000 followers on Twitter. She says she uses a variety of sites to secure online privacy.

“You must have a few networks that are sacred. For me, anyone can follow me on Twitter. I only accept people as friends on Facebook if I have personally met them. And there’s a site called Path that I reserve for my closest 50 friends, and where I feel safer posting more personal stuff.

“My personality has changed so much online. I still post some personal things. I’m still playful on Twitter, but nowhere near as much as I used to be.

“There’s this whole thing with the personal-professional hybrid that social media is that we’re all still getting used to,” she says. Darabi is reticent about the future of social media; a five-year horizon is far too distant, she says.

Do you honestly think ten-year olds would uniformly accept only the friend requests from people they have met?  What is the point of a Primary aged child having a Twitter account anyway?  I have absolutely no issues in teaching the importance of privacy settings and alerting my students to cyber safety practices.  This is something I currently do.   But what is gained from lessons that “make the most of social media?”

Whilst it is essential to enlighten our children of the issues that arise from improper social media use, there is simply no good reason for Primary students having their own Facebook and Twitter accounts.

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Posted in Cyber Bullying, Cyber Safety, Social Media | 4 Comments »

Cyber Bullying Takes Bullying to a New Level

April 13, 2011

It would be taking bullying too lightly to say it was important or a priority.  It is much more serious than that.  Bullying is a huge area of concern worldwide and is the issue most in need of consideration and due diligence in our schools.  I am happy to hear that in my home state of Victoria, legislation has been passed making it a crime to bully, with workplace bullies jailed for up to 10 years.

It is reassuring to see that cyber bullying is included in this piece of legislation:

The legislation would also cover cyber bullying. It’s happening in other places too.

With the internet covering every part of our lives, cyber bullying has become more prevalent now than ever before. Access to mobile phones, the Facebook phenomenon and YouTube have made it a real problem. Cyber bullying is now so bad that it’s being looked at by a parliamentary committee. Facebook says its removing 20,000 under age users globally each day, but the problem continues. Cyber bullying is perpetrated not just by young people. Take for example the revelations of a gay hate campaign on Facebook in the Australian Defence Force. //

Cyber bullying can take many forms. It can include being teased or made fun of online, being sent threatening emails,  having rumours spread about you online, having unpleasant comments, pictures or videos about you sent or posted on websites like Facebook or MySpace,  being sent unwanted messages, being deliberately ignored or left out of things on the internet or even having someone use your screen name or password and pretending to be you to hurt someone else.

One of the worst examples recently popped up when Blake Rice, who lost his mother and brother in Queensland’s floods, was bashed by six youths because of all the attention he was getting. After leaving him with a broken collar bone, they set up a Facebook page titled We bashed Blake Rice.

The effect of cyber bullying can not be underestimated.  When a child is bullied in the schoolyard, they may find sanctuary in the comfort and safety of their home and family.  This basic right is not afforded to victims of cyber bullying.  They are bullied from the very place they go to for safety and certainty.  With cyber bullying, there is nowhere to hide.

Another unique aspect of cyber bullying, is that when students are bullied at school there is a clear expectation that the Principal and staff will work together to protect these students.  Who are our children to turn to when they are being bullied online?  Their teachers?  Their parents?

This frustrating aspect is highlighted quite clearly through this heartbreaking letter to the Editor from a mother in the UK.

I WAS so pleased to read the article from a concerned father on Facebook Bullying.

I am the parent of a 13 year old girl attending a West Norfolk High School.

We have experienced the horror of Facebook Bullying, which follows on from a day of hell for my daughter in school.

I have had to complain to the school, visit the school, etc, on many occasions since my daughter started three years ago, only to be told the same thing time and time again – the bullies have been spoken too, the bullies have been dealt with; only to find that same evening it starts again at home in the form of Facebook.

The horrible taunts, the name calling, and then more join in and back up the bully’s comments. My daughter puts a far braver face on it than I ever could, but as a mother I feel her pain – and I am disgusted that the parents of these children are not checking what their delightful children are saying and the manner in which they are saying it.

I log on to my daughter’s Facebook with her permission every day now. On occasions as I have been doing this I have had vile messages sent to me via chat – and they get a nasty shock when they realise they have not actually sent it to my daughter.

I have threatened them with Police, with their parents and for cyber bullying, but most times you just get verbal abuse back.

What is happening to our children and our schools?

I have thought about taking my daughter off Facebook altogether to protect her, but why should she be the one who feels punished; why should she miss out on what the majority of her peers are enjoying responsibly?

Also it helps me as a parent to see just what the poor child is enduring and a least, on an upside, I can be there for her and support her through this the best I can – and I have the names of the bullies.

Perhaps Facebook should have been thought through before its launch – 18 years minimum age for access maybe.

There may just be a chance then that these awful bullying children may have reached maturity, and know right from wrong.

ANOTHER CONCERNED PARENT (MOTHER)

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Posted in Bullying, Cyber Bullying | 1 Comment »

The Downside of Facebook

March 9, 2011

The benefits of Facebook are obvious and invaluable.  However, it is clear that like every other innovation, the bad comes with the good.  Facebook connects you to places and people all over the world, it allows you to promote yourself, your business and interact with more people than you otherwise would.  But it also has the potential of getting you in trouble:

Recently there was the case of Natalie Munroe who became a hero in some quarters for blunt comments she made of her students on her Facebook page.

Now we have a very disappointing case that once again acts as a cautionary tale of Facebook misuse:

A 13-year old Georgia girl is facing expulsion and relocation to an “alternative school” after she called one of her teachers a pedophile on Facebook. The girl, Alejandra Sosa, and two of her classmates who commented on the post must now go before a disciplinary tribunal for what Chapel Hill Middle School calls a “level one” offense: the worst category of transgression in the student handbook. Sosa posted the message because she was angry with her teacher, but said it was intended as a joke. She claims that she now regrets posting it, and understands that what she did was wrong.

The parents of the three students, though upset with their kids’ behavior, think the school and its principal, Jolene Morris, have gone too far. Sosa claims that Morris took her to the school’s library after catching wind of the post. She claims the principal then demanded she log into her Facebook account; she then took the keyboard and mouse from the student to read through her Wall posts, before telling Sosa to delete the messages. The father of William Lambert, one of the other students implicated in the incident, says that Morris also violated his son’s privacy by demanding that Sosa log into her Facebook account; Lambert had called the teacher a rapist in a comment on Sosa’s original post.

The parents all believe that sending the children to a school for students with behavioral problems will ultimately derail their education. Sosa is an honor student, and Taylor’s mother worries that putting the children in that environment is tantamount to telling them to “[be] in a gang and do drugs.” The parents have banded together to obtain the services of a lawyer. If the tribunal decides on expulsion and alternative schools, the case could wind up in the courts.

Gerry Weber, an adjunct professor of civil rights at Georgia State University, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that while online comments are subject to libel laws, they’re also protected under the First Amendment. The schools do not have the jurisdiction to punish students for “off-campus speech,” he said, unless the comments can be proven to have caused an on-campus “disruption.” The principal’s decision to access Sosa’s Facebook account could also play to the students’ favor in court proceedings, as it may be seen as a violation of the child’s privacy.

I know there aren’t many that will agree with me, but falsely accusing a teacher of being a pedophile in a public forum is worthy of expulsion.  I know she is a child and didn’t properly think through her actions, but there is no worse label to give a teacher than that one.  Her parents should stop defending her and let her cop her punishment.  It is about time that kids take responsibility for their actions.  If they are old enough to have a Facebook page, then they are old enough to accept accountability for its misuse.  Her parents need to tell her that while the penalty may seem harsh, it is a fair one.  One that will hopefully get her to think before she slanders another person.

And perhaps, there is a lesson there for all of us with our Facebook pages.  Facebook is there to connect us with others not to divide us.

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Posted in Cyber Bullying | 6 Comments »

Natalie Munroe is No Hero!

February 18, 2011

I can’t believe the amount of support blogger Natalie Munroe is receiving after she was caught complaining about her students on a public blog.

Sure, she may not have named them when she called them “… rude, disengaged, lazy whiners. They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire, and are just generally annoying.”

She didn’t even use her full name.  So what did she do wrong?

When you write a blog that complains about the people you work with or for, be very careful that the secret doesn’t come out.  When a school board is presented with complaints from parents who were angry that their children were insulted online, they have no choice but to issue a suspension.  It’s a really bad look – especially from a teacher.

Ms. Munroe’s defenders say she was just telling the truth.  Firstly, she wasn’t telling the truth.  Truth applies to fact, this is opinion.  The old adage that one’s opinions is best left to one’s self certainly applies here.  The school would look ridiculous if they allowed Ms. Monroe to write what she likes and they certainly couldn’t have defended it on the basis of truth.

But many disagree with me:

However, it is high time for teachers to speak up even at the loss of their jobs. United in this effort, they could turn the tables and help students achieve better educations. And they could have a better, safer, environment.

It might be noted here that she did not direct her statements to any specific student. There has been a Facebook group organized to support her.

Every classroom in America is filled with students like this, and sometimes it must be like working in a zoo. It might be an easier job than trying to reach and teach kids who could care less about school, respecting those in authority, and those who hold back other students who really want to learn.

This is not the forum for teachers to have a go at their own students.  If they disguise their comments in general statements about the nature of kids in modern society that is acceptable, but when they make judgements about the personalities and behaviours of their own students, they must accept the consequences of these revelations should they reach the parents.

My own take on this is that she made a mistake.  She is not a bad person or necessarily a bad teacher.  Whilst it’s not a good look for a teacher to be caught out venting their frustration, it happens all the time, and given the time, place and circumstance it won’t lead to suspension.  But seriously, Natalie Munroe is no hero!

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Posted in Cyber Bullying, Teachers Stress | 5 Comments »

Facebook: Changing the Face of Education

February 6, 2011

There is something quite brilliant about social media when it is used in the right way.  Australia has been afflicted by floods, cyclones and fire in the past few weeks, and social media was instrumental in relaying messages and accessing information.  But like all technology, there is always negatives that erode some of the positive aspects.

Social media such as Facebook were invented to connect people, to make them closer, to bring people together.  It is so unfortunate to see the very innovation purporting to connect us being used for quite the opposite.  In the past weeks I have covered Facebook misuse stories such as the unfortunate trend of parents using Facebook to publicly campaign against teachers, the case of the student that bullied his teacher on Facebook, and now unfortunately, comes this new story:

A teacher working at a special needs primary school said it was like ‘working at a zoo’ and that she wanted to throw pupils out of the window.

The teacher at the Oakley School, for special needs children aged between five and 11 in Tonbridge, Kent, also said the pupils shared a ‘particular brand of special germ which made her ill’ on her Facebook page.

The teacher was hauled before education chiefs after they had looked through her Facebook account – which also contained a ‘joke’ about throwing pupils out of the window.

She also criticised pupils, saying they ‘smelled her legs’ and that she was ‘working in hell’ in posts made in September last year.

Parents were furious that the teacher at the 50-pupil school was ‘mocking’ their children on the popular site and demanding she get the boot.

School chiefs have not said whether the teacher was sacked or whether she left after being confronted with the evidence – and say the matter remains ‘confidential’.

Teachers often get quite frustrated with a class or student and say things they later regret.  However, these words far and away exceeded what a typical frustrated teacher says.  What makes it so much worse is that the teacher had the foolishness and temerity to post her thoughts on Facebook.  Teaching is a privilege – especially disabled children who rely on their teacher for support and guidance more than most. No teacher should ever speak of their students in that way!

I have heard teachers talk up Facebook as an educational tool, claiming that it’s perfect for the classroom.  As a teacher myself, I remain unconvinced that it is a wise move to introduce Facebook to the classroom.  Even if half the class are on it anyway, teachers should think twice before endorsing the innovation.

After all, we are seeing far too many cases of Facebook abuse.

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Posted in Cyber Bullying | 4 Comments »

Bullying a Teacher is not Free Speech!

February 4, 2011

There is appropriate behaviour and then there is inappropriate behaviour.  Bullying a teacher is inappropriate – full stop!  It doesn’t matter if it is in the classroom, the schoolyard or on Facebook – it’s not on.  Students must refrain from slurring the reputation of their teachers.  Is that so difficult to live with?

When a student calls his teacher a “douche bag” and “fat ass” on Facebook, and then gets suspended from school as result, you would think that the matter has been dealt with and all can move on.  But that wasn’t the case when a grade 10 student in California referred to his teacher as a “fat ass who should stop eating fast food, and is a douche bag” in a Facebook post – apparently in reaction to getting a large pile of homework

Such a story should never have made the headlines or been discussed in the media.

Enter the ACLU – a U.S. charity that promotes free speech (and spends most of its time being a general nuisance).  The ACLU couldn’t let the school get away with protecting its teacher from being verbally insulted online.

After learning about the incident, ACLU attorney Linda Lye wrote a letter to the school, asking it to reverse its decision to suspend the student.

She argued that the student’s post did not constitute cyberbullying because it did not “materially or substantially [disrupt] the school environment.” Also, he posted the status update from home during non-school hours.

Didn’t disrupt the school environment?  Who do you think is responsible for establishing and maintaining the school environment? Teachers, Ms. Lye – teachers!  What kind of school environment do you have where it’s considered acceptable to say nasty things about a teacher on Facebook?

And so what if the offence took place out of school.  Does this mean a student can voice their displeasure about their teacher on talkback radio or graffiti insults at the local train station without any punishment?  Let’s just hope our students don’t know any skywriters!

But there’s more:

“Schools have an obligation to provide a safe school environment,” wrote Lye. But “petty comments, insults, ordinary personality conflicts … don’t rise to the level of harassment.”

You see that’s the problem.  Those insults were not petty, they were harmful.  I am sure if Ms. Lye was the subject of similar comments on Facebook she wouldn’t find them so petty.

Of course ACLU were successful with the suspension subsequently erased from the student’s record.

Freedom of speech is not supposed to allow students to insult their teachers on Facebook.  Teachers work every day to keep their credibility and authority intact.  If we allow students to undermine their teachers without consequences, we are sending a terrible message that will have potentially severe ramifications for our education system.

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Posted in Bullying, Cyber Bullying, Teacher Welfare | 3 Comments »

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