海角大神

There are all kinds of reasons why 鈥渂ullying鈥� and 鈥渃yberbullying鈥� can鈥檛 be applied to just any kind of mean behavior that happens in physical or digital spaces.聽聽goes into a bunch of them in his latest blog post, but parents may want to know why lack of definition is a problem for schools as well as for students.

For example, Mr. Patchin writes, 鈥渞ecently-passed laws in some states require educators to take certain steps once a behavior is classified as bullying. Well-intentioned or not, these laws force schools into following specific and time-consuming procedures.鈥�

He describes why it鈥檚 a problem for schools and districts in New Jersey under a new law there, the upshot being that 鈥渋t would take an army of administrators to follow through on all of these procedures if every rude, annoying, or even hurtful incident were classified as 鈥榖ullying鈥�.鈥� That鈥檚 one really important reason why society needs to be clear about what it is and where it happens (This with information from the Crimes Against Children Research Center offers more information on clarifying the terms).

Another huge reason is that 鈥渟chools are increasingly being judged by the number of bullying reports received each year,鈥� according to Patchin, But does a high number of reports represent a school climate conducive to bullying 鈥� one in which students are comfortable with reporting 鈥� or a school community without a clear definition of bullying, so that every mean behavior is deemed 鈥渂ullying鈥�?

In his post, Patchin asks, 鈥淚f a school shows a high number of bullying reports/interventions, is that a good thing or a bad thing?鈥� Because that鈥檚 not clear, how much can state laws requiring reporting help?

Students聽reporting bullying is a different story.聽, Patchin鈥檚 co-author on several books and co-founder at the , wrote a post a couple of years ago that illustrates one school鈥檚 experience, that of Lewis Middle School in San Diego. If you want an insider鈥檚 perspective, Lewis鈥檚 assistant principal details how the school developed an anonymous reporting system and an example of a student who used it (with a successful outcome).

That was a reporting system developed by a school itself. Other schools use systems provided by vendors. Take Sprigeo.com for example. The company 鈥渋s currently working with more than 1,000 schools in 27 states,鈥� reported聽聽this week. 鈥淓ven if your school isn鈥檛 one of them, Sprigeo will contact the school on your child鈥檚 behalf and inform them of the incident鈥� (Tynan mentions other examples).

One of the things I like about聽聽is its very visible support for student leadership: Check out the 鈥溾�� portion of the site, profiling student leaders working to end bullying.聽