Several articles ago, I addressed a new problem faced by teachers and school administrators. That problem deals with the new capabilities of technology. Using technology to defame or ridicule others is known as cyber-bullying.
In my article I discussed how Canada is now acting out against cyber-bullies. Students can be punished and even expelled for acts of cyber-bullying regardless of where the act took place.
A recent survey showed that 84 % of the teachers surveyed had been victims of cyber-bullying. Some of the results even suggested that the humiliation of cyber-bullying contributed to teachers getting out of the teaching profession.
More often, teachers are the victims of cyber-bullying. Occasionally students will use the Internet to bash other students.
I have now learned that there are even websites designed for students to discuss and rate their teachers. Such websites have terrible and often untrue comments posted about teachers. The survey found that the students often use these types of sites along with emails and chat rooms more than blogs or text messages.
While teachers are finding this type of content very offensive and want action taken against the students, the students are claiming that their personal privacy is being violated and that the conversations were to be private. This is especially a rocky ground when students use their personal home computers to write comments.
While taking criminal actions against students for bashing their teachers online is still controversial, some students have been expelled and even transferred to different schools due to harassing comments posted online.
Some suggest that there is no way to regulate what students say or post about teachers. The only hope is to educate teachers and parents about how to monitor students on the web. The students need to be aware that there are consequences for actions that carried out online and that the web does affect the real world.