Cyberbullies young and old

We have all been to PTA groups and school board meetings (and some sports days) when parents shout out their worries and become belligerent. And we’ve all read news reports of parents sometimes becoming violent, fueled by the passion they have for their kids or against those looking after their kids.

And, to be honest, I have passionately bearded a principal or two in my time; a local mom and I once went ballistic over an inappropriate sex education book given to my 12-year-old.… But that is another story.

A survey just conducted has revealed, however, that over one-third of all teachers are being abused via the Internet. It is so simple to vent on the Internet without realizing the damage you are doing.

And remember, we all know of the disgrace some teachers have suffered falsely by being accused of a crime they are found, later, after they are immediately canned, not to have perpetrated. False accusations and attacks in the educational world stick, forever.

The Internet abuse of teachers is so bad that a panel was formed to investigate just who is doing this abuse and cyberbullying: 72 percent is done by the kids and only 26 percent by parents. But a voice on the Internet is without age/role specificity, so they count equally. Little Johnny, a nerd-bully, can wreak havoc on someone’s life’s work with the click of a mouse. And he does.

And the majority of targets are women teachers. There are online social networks like Facebook and Twitter formed to mob-abuse teachers, schools. To be fair, Facebook offers tips for teachers and promises to respond to reports of individual harassment within 24 hours.

“These online discussions are a reflection of those happening offline,” said a Facebook spokesman. “But while you can’t report a conversation outside the school or easily stop a person sending abusive, anonymous emails, Facebook has worked hard to develop reporting mechanisms that enable people to report offensive content they are concerned about.”

But it gets worse. Now kids are even posting video of teachers in action, in classrooms, edited and sometimes photoshopped, to make the teachers’ careers totter and, often, fall.

“It’s just opinion, like any other blog,” say proponents. There is even a website called ratemyteachers.com with over 15 million comments, some of them abusive and without proof.

“This parental abuse is something we haven’t come across before,” said Professor Andy Phippen of Plymouth University, the author of the report. “Sometimes they are abusing other children at school as well. Schools need to clamp down on it, or it will increase in prevalence,” he warned.

Part of the problem here is that the level playing field of the Internet gives disproportionate power to the individual against what many kids and some parents feel is the status and respect teachers used to get.

In short, if the Internet gives them the power to equalize what they feel is the superior attitude of a teacher, they will bring the teacher down simply to make themselves feel better. And remember, they do not need to go through channels, no need to phone the school superintendant or headmaster. Have a gripe against your teacher? Bury them.

Reading some of the comments on websites is frightening. Cyberbullying is violent. When your child is being abusive at home, you remove his or her toys and send them to their room (or give a time out). For cyberbullies, parents and kids, time for a web-out.

Peter Riva, formerly of Amenia Union, lives in New Mexico.