Why Bullying is Everyone’s Business
In the wake of the cyberbullying posting I put up on April 11 comes the news that five teenagers planned a Columbine-style shooting spree yesterday. (I’m not going to address the fact that it was messages posted on one of the student’s MySpace page that led to the plot being uncovered, other than to say I think it’s an indication that at least one of these kids wanted to be stopped.)
What would motivate a bunch of kids to make a hit list of classmates and teachers? According to preliminary reports, the kids were socially on the outside and harassed. This isn’t shocking; it was the motivation for the Columbine tragedy and many other instances of school violence. (It’s also the plotline for a whole genre of movies, starting with Carrie, where a downtrodden outcast wreaks gory revenge on the popular kids that put them down.)
This just underscores why we need to remain vigilant about the climate between students in our schools. It doesn’t matter if the harassment is online or face-to-face, on campus or off, it still poisons what happens in the classroom. Of course, the first and primary reason to fight this is that school should be an emotionally safe place for everyone, and no student deserves to suffer through emotional abuse at the hands of their classmates. However, a secondary reason is that there can be serious repurcussions from bullying that can lead to all kinds of potential tragedies. This event came very, very close to happening. Even though the rampage was stopped before it began, the lives of the students involved will never be the same.
Looking back to my post yesterday about asking the right questions, how can we use technology to help all students feel connected and supported at school? Is the ability of shy kids to share through blogging, in a moderated and supportive environment? Is it allowing the dyslexic student to discover their previously unknown mechanical skills working with Lego robotics?
Sometimes technology opens doors for students, and sometimes it opens doors for teachers trying to help the students. Reading Jeff Allen’s blog today on Erin Gruwell’s Freedom Writers project got me thinking along these lines. Erin is clearly an outstanding teacher who invested a great deal into her students. However, if another teacher were inspired to replicate her student-published book project, until recently the complexity of such an effort would have stopped all but the most dedicated individuals. However, this kind of effort has been made much easier through services such as Lulu. How can we use these opportunities to help teachers reach kids in ways they’ve never been able to before?