Rosalind Wiseman

Please watch. I am curious as to how people are justifying the actions of these middle school girls? I constantly hear about instances of cyberbullying all over the country and I have yet to see significant action taken. As a public school employee I understand the confidentiality with the schools punishment, but on the other hand, I think this is a perfect platform to show students everywhere that this is absolutely unacceptable behavior. I have read a lot of newspaper articles about this incident and most cite the girls as feeling remorseful and saying they “didn’t mean it.” I can’t help but think that if it was a male student or a single student making this video that they would have more serious and public repercussions. The girls might not have “meant it,” but look at the alarming increasing rates of “bullycide” – the tragic consequence of bullying gone too far. Not only do I feel horrible for the victim and families, I feel horrible for the bullies. I venture to guess that they did not mean for the target to commit suicide and they have to live with their actions for the rest of their lives. I cannot fathom that.

I feel like some schools just put out fires and we need more preventative work, especially in the arena of technology. What we once deemed childish entertainment is now very much a reality. Kids (and adults) feel powerful with the anonymity of the Internet. They do things in cyberspace that they wouldn’t dream of doing in real time. In addition, most teenagers are preoccupied with fairness and take “do onto others as you would want done to you” to another level – AKA – they retaliate. The frontal cortex of the brain is the last area to mature in teenagers and is responsible for decision making and impulse control, two things teens have trouble with. They make poor and consequential decisions they have to live with for the rest of their lives. I cannot tell you how many of my 8th grade students – good students – have ended up long term suspended this year due to their unpolished decision making skills. They didn’t “mean” it – but they did it. With our whole world being wired and wireless, do I dare say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? YouTube. Facebook. MySpace. iPhone. Blackberry. Staggering increases of fights, bullycide, depression, sexting, etc. Coincidence? I think not. Why are we not teaching “Netiquette” in schools? Why are we justifying these terrible incidents? We need to teach our students to accept responsibility for their actions and be better humans. I can’t remember where this quote came from, but I enjoy it – “Life is not about the mistakes you make but the lessons learned from them.” Most cyberbullying incidents are not to this degree of severity, but instead of capitalizing on it why not make it a teaching tool – or at the very least a springboard for policy development and implementation. When is enough really going to be enough?