A few days ago I read an article about teachers in the United Kingdom demanding that “something must be done” about the cyberbullying of teachers and school kids. It appears that teachers are finally fed up with the tricks that kids pull on teachers and other kids. However, kids are always going to find ways to bully each other and their teachers, no matter what you do.
There is no solution to this problem. Kids have been bullying each other and pranking their teachers since the dawn of formal education. Now it is unfortunate that these UK teachers seem to be oblivious to this fact of life. Because now there seems to be a move in the UK, from a teacher’s union, “The Professional Association of Teachers“. They have adopted a resolution asking for a ban on sites used for cyberbullying.
Reading the details of this resolution now shows they only name two sites, YouTube and RateMyTeacher.com .
Now given the fact that “Kids will be Kids” you are going to have a small percentage of those that will cause trouble no matter what and unfortunately cyberbullying is going to be a part of it. However, shutting down these sites will have absolutely no impact on bullying except perhaps encouraging the kids to do it even more, knowing that their tactics have had the desired effect. I find it quite ammusing that a bunch of teachers seem to think that the best way to deal with problems between people is censorship and removing the tools involved will magically fix the problem. For the love of life people you are supposed to be Academicians, Educators, Teachers. Censorship should not even be part of your vocabulary let alone a practice you openly and fervently pursue.
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