Poll: Young People Say Online Meanness Pervasive

A new AP poll of youth 14 to 24 released today finds that over half have been the target of some type of taunting, harassment or bullying. Very disturbing is the fact that the new poll showed a 10 percent increase from 45 to 55 percent in just 2 years. Other recent studies have suggested 20 to 25 percent of middle and high school students have been cyber-bullied. Many of these same students are also bullied face-to-face. The Steps to Respect Bullying Prevention program by the Committee for Children we use at my school teaches children to Recognize-Refuse-Report AND Record cyber bullying. Children need to fight the urge to delete cruel messages and share them with their parents or school staff so the bullying can be investigated and hopefully stopped. In our district the librarians teach about internet safety and the school counselors teach lesson about cyber-bullying. What are you doing to help prepare students to handle this increasingly common form of meanness?