Discussion

Here, you are invited to discuss how to deal with cyber-bullying by taking your starting point in text 3.

“Online Bullies Pull Schools Into the Fray”

Text 3 is titled “Online Bullies Pull Schools Into the Fray”. It was written by Jan Hoffman and published in 2010 on the website of The New York Times.

As the title of the article announces, the text deals with the way in which schools are supposed to deal with cyber-bullying that involves the students. First, the author offers the example of a school principal who found himself unable to help the parents of a cyber-bullied 12-year-old girl who was a student at his school:

The girl’s parents, wild with outrage and fear, showed the principal the text messages: a dozen shocking, sexually explicit threats, sent to their daughter the previous Saturday night from the cellphone of a 12-year-old boy. Both children were sixth graders at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood, N.J.1 (p. 6, ll. 1-4)

Although cyber-bullying is a growing phenomenon, the schools – together with principals, teachers, and educators – are, in general, reluctant and unprepared to deal with bullies and victims. This shows that dealing with cyber-bullying is quite hard for both parents and educators, as there are no clear instructions in the law.

Often, school district discipline codes say little about educators’ authority over student cellphones, home computers and off-campus speech. Reluctant to assert an authority they are not sure they have, educators can appear indifferent to parents frantic with worry, alarmed by recent adolescent suicides linked to bullying. (p. 6,ll. 23-26)

At the same time, the parents of bullies and victims are in different categories – some of them want to be helped, while others refuse the involvement of the school in the matter.

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Text 1 and text 2

When it comes to dealing with cyber-bullying, you can also look at the measures proposed by text 1 and text 2. Text 1 draws attention to the manifestations of cyber-bullying and advises parents to be attentive: “It infiltrates the home, taking away children’s safe spaces. It’s just as serious as physical bullying, but it may be harder for parents and carers to spot.” (p. 2, ll. 32-34)

What is more, text 1 also states that dealing with cyber-bullying would be easier if parents would pay more attention to children missing classes or to a change in their social behaviour.

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