As computer access becomes increasingly prevalent with our children, concerns have been raised

Schools should take action if there is harm being done to others. In Document A of” Should Schools Be Allowed to Limit Students’ Online Speech?”, they surveyed a random sample of 10-18 year-olds from a large school district in the southern US. It shows that girls are more likely to be cyberbullied. It also shows that girls are more likely to cyberbully somebody else. According to the graph, 25.1% of girls have been cyberbullied in their lifetime,

Is cyberbullying an old problem with a new disguise? Bullying in the real world has been around for a seemingly endless amount of time. Due to the rise of technology in society today, bullying in the cyber world, also known as cyberbullying, has erupted. Cyberbullying can be defined as using technology, such as the Internet, social media, and text messages, to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person (Hirsch). According to 11 Facts About Cyberbullying, nearly eighty-three percent of teens believe bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person. This shows that cyberbullies use online networks to camouflage themselves from reality. Cyberbullying is emotionally abusive to the victim’s mental health because the scars imprinted from the cruel remarks sent through text messages and posted throughout social media are bound to forever impact one's life.

In modern society today, freedom of speech has been a main concern to delinquents as to what they say on the web. Although, cyberbullying has turned into a major issue online that has gotten the schools’ attention and turn towards the security of their students. To accomplish nurturing their students’ safety, they have punished pupils for what they say on the Internet that is harmful in account of others. Alternatively, the Constitution believes this goes against the First Amendment and violates the students’ rights. Schools should be authorized to limit students’ online speech to decrease the matter of cyberbullying which has affected us in many ways.

The purposes of schools include protecting and educating its students. Therefore, naturally, when a student is cyberbullying someone else, the school seeks to intervene. However, many argue that a school’s intervention of its students’ online speech is in violation of their First Amendment rights. Should schools be allowed to limit students’ online speech? That is, should schools be allowed to punish the things its students post online, even if they are done outside of school, and from their personal devices? The answer is clearly yes. From the concept, to the precedence, to the data, to a letter from the US Department of Education, evidences everywhere supports limiting students’

On the issue of whether or not schools should be allowed to limit students’ online speech, I firmly believe that they shouldn’t. Doing so directly infringes upon the student’s first amendment rights to the freedom of speech, and for what? Numerous surveys have shown that cyberbullying isn’t a huge problem. Further, one document affirms the conclusion that cyberbullying is just another phase in the long-running evolution of bullying. With this essay, I aim to convince you that schools should not limit their students’ online speech, using my vast knowledge as well as cold hard facts.

Cyberbullying is defined as, ¨...bullying that takes place using electronic technology¨ by stopbullying.gov. Recently, schools have been taking actions to punish students for what they do or say online. There have been many debates and trails to figure out whether or not schools should have the power to limit and punish students’ speech online. The Supreme Court ruled that if online speech is disruptive, schools can punish students. School districts should not have the power to limit online speech because online speech does not affect most students and teachers, is not very disruptive, and free speech is a precious right.

Students do not always realize that their free speech can go against certain limits that the Supreme Court has issued on this freedom. The US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights suggests that harassment creates a hostile environment when the conduct is sufficiently severe or persistent so as to interfere with or limit a students' ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or opportunities offered by the school. (Doc. G) In consonance with this, it is the school's responsibility to address harassment incidents to protect students' privacy rights. Allowing full access to the first amendment in schools can often result in the violation of the fourth amendment by infringing privacy rights. There are many forms of harassment that can violate students' civil rights. According to the same department, harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, or disability violates the civil rights laws that the OCR enforces. (Doc. G) Cyberbullying often falls into these categories which are all violations of civil rights, and many schools may not have proper standards for this violation. It is the school's responsibility to protect the civil rights of students, teachers, and administrators, so they must take a stand against discrimination, including online speech. Not only does cyberbullying contravene with civil rights, it also causes emotional

This paper addresses a situation in which a student notified this author that she was being subjected to bullying through another classmate’s Facebook page. A discussion of steps required by Oregon’s statutes, the Lake Oswego School District 's board policies and the student handbook, will provide a basis for examining any First Amendment arguments that the bullying has raised, with a discussion of the author 's First Amendment responses consistent with applicable Supreme Court cases.

Schools and the public are wasting time and resources on the over-exaggerated issue of cyberbullying. Today, schools are wasting much of their time worrying about cyberbullying and in popular media it’s mentioned too much. Schools should not be allowed to limit online speech. It’s not needed since most students haven’t been cyberbullied, cyberbullying hasn’t been proven to be very disruptive and online gossip is not common.

“We have freedom of speech, but you got to watch what you say” said the comedian Tracy Morgan. And he was correct. In this modern world today, numerous students abuse the First Amendment. Over the media, students are posting comments, videos, stories, etc. about other students and teachers. These students are cyberbullies. The schools should be allowed to limit students’ online speech because cyber bullying privacy and dignity are important, it hurts feelings, and affects the school.

Students can send cruel comments through texts and emails instead of doing it in person. A whole group of students can send anonymous messages and slander through Facebook or YouTube. The home address or cell phone number of the victim can be posted online. Videos and pictures of an individual during a vulnerable or intimate time in their life can be used on the internet to continue their humiliation for years to come. Victims are no longer safe in their own home because their bullies can follow them online. In addition, teachers cannot witness these online altercations like they could with altercations in a classroom. Being unable to track student behavior online, instructors could no longer report activity unless it occurred in their presence or they are notified by a student. School boards cannot respond to these internet attacks with their sweeping policies because they did not apply to off campus situations. Federal laws provided little relief. “In January 2006, the United States made it a federal crime to harass people on the internet.—but the law applied only to people over the age of eighteen.”(Klein 119-120) Cyber-bullies in secondary school could commit acts of aggression without worries of repercussion. If caught, online abuser could evoke their first amendment rights, which defendsfreedom of speech. No one willing to stop these attackers would know what was happening until it was too late for the

Most of the information regarding the violations of school infractions outside of school hours focuses on cyberbullying. In these cases students’ individual rights have been compromised. Though the violations occurred off of school property and after school hours, the repercussions are still felt at school during school

Cyberbullying is a major problem Young people have hurt themselves because of cyberbullying. School Administrators sometimes feel they have to punish students for online activity, even if it happens off-campus,

The Center presented the officials with a made-up scenario in which a student, using the web, threatened to inflict bodily harm on another student. On a scale of one to ten, one meaning no law enforcement role was required and ten requiring a “significant” role, the respondents rated the situation a 9.1. This was the scenario that drew the strongest approval of police intervention (Patchin). Interestingly, one of Rebecca Sedwick’s tormentors told her to die via a Facebook post (Slifer, Fla. Girls). In such a case, the Cyberbullying Research Center instructed law enforcement officials to discuss publicly the consequences of cyberbullying for education and deterrence purposes (Patchin). Obviously, talking things over cannot prevent everything, but it increases awareness in school administrators and parents. The Center also asserted officers should “discipline students for conduct outside of school if it infringes on the rights of other students or causes material disruptions to the school’s learning environment” (Patchin). Ultimately, the Center left interpretations of cyberbullying incidents and the required responses to the officers themselves. In fact, the Center more clearly defines law enforcement’s role in cyberbullying cases in its general statement found on its homepage. The document says officials should

The student code of conduct and employee handbook has anti-bullying contracts requiring the signatures of all students and faculty members. Vowing they will report all forms of bullying. Students are accountable for de-escalating conflicts, avoiding, conflict, not creating conflict and not encouraging conflict either (Beaufort County School District 16). Disciplinary actions can lead to suspension or expulsion from schools. Third party participants can face the similar disciplinary actions. Including facing criminal charges. First Amendment considerations when regulating cyberbullying on and off campus must be authorized by state law. The following paper will discuss public schools in protection of student from cyberbullying and its relationship with 1st Amendment.