Cyber Bullying

I can across a few articles posted on the ListServe this week which dealt with cyberbullying. It is amazing how the world is connected in some cosmic way. Last evening I got an email from a student at school with a link to a website. This website was a "Burn Book" for the class of 2009. In the post, there were numerous students listed by name. These students were insulted in awful ways meant to demean their appearance, actions, sexual orientation, their friends, even their parents. It was shocking for me to read because a person not from the Internet age, to be this out in the open with your insults was remarkable. This is posted, literally, for the world to read. Disgusting. As a kid, it would be unimaginable to have your dirty laundry placed on the Internet. If it was scrawled on the bathroom wall, you could always erase it, but the Internet is something else. There must be a way for schools to police this type of action, especially if the student posting is from the school injured. I am afraid that schools will be fearful to take action because the actions took place outside the school computer, or off school grounds. Lawmakers need to put into place laws which protect the schools which punish these assaults from their own students. Otherwise, students will continue to insult each other in very public ways.

Times have changed.