Bullying on Facebook, it's not just children

Would it surprise you to know that it is not just children who are being bullied online? Teachers are being bullied as well. Would it surprise you to know that it is not just students who are participating in this behavior? That is right; Parents are bullying students and teachers. According on one study, 26% of the bullies online are parents.

Children are bullying their teachers online and getting away with it, thanks to the first Amendment. When teenagers built a fake MySpace page and claimed that, their principal was a pedophile the courts said that was all right because the children were protected under the first amendment. Now a new study suggests that one in three teachers will be bullied not only be students but also by parents, online.

The situation is not restricted to the United States either. The United Kingdom has had its share of problems, one school official in England; Mr. Hobby said that a key problem with online abuse was that there is no standard procedure to tackle lies or misinformation. “There is no ‘due process’, no right of reply, no appeal and no requirement for evidence,” he said. “Frequently the campaigns are based on false allegations or innuendo and are joined by people with little or no contact with the school. (Telegraph)

In England as in America, it seems that the abuse stems from not getting what they want from the schools. The Principal in Philadelphia who was accused of being a pedophile came after the Principal had to discipline the same student over violations in the schools dress code.

In England, the Parents who are abusing teachers are the same parents who are attacking fellow students. At this point though the schools are not set up to handle a situation like this and so in most cases the parents are getting away with this behavior. A spokesperson for Facebook stated that they have ways for people to report behavior that is dangerous or a cause for concern, and yet this kind of behavior continues.

Canada is also having problems with children posting inappropriate comments and YouTube videos about their teachers. Like in England, Parents have gotten involved in this behavior.Perry Aftab of Cyber Safety an online organizations that fights cyber-crimes recommends that schools create a policy on how teachers should behave with their students on Facebook. Some schools are considering banning teachers from interacting with students on social networking sites. Missouri is considering whether to prevent teachers and students from interacting on social networking sites in hopes that a policy like this will cut down on some of the problems that have arisen from these types of interactions.(CTVNews)

Cutting down on the interaction between teachers and students is one option. With the guaranteed first amendment right of free speech this kind of behavior will continue. Since the Web is not regulated, the best that we can hope for is Facebook and YouTube working harder at making sure users to do not violate their terms of service. With all of that, there will still probably be problems with bullying. Parents can teach children not to bully; one way is to lead by example, if a parent does not participate in bullying, then perhaps neither will the child. If parents have a problem with a teacher, they should take it up through appropriate channels and not by attacking the teacher. Some readers have commented that it might be necessary to bring back some of the old disciplinary styles, whether joking or serious this might not be the answer. Having a teacher slap you across the knuckles is not likely to get a teenager not to act out. Parents on the other hand can remove the computer and put their children on restriction if they find out that the child participated in bullying a student or teacher. Discipline should start in the home, parents who teach their children right from wrong should have an easier time getting them to stop participating in this bad behavior.