Essay Sample on Limiting Student Online Speech

Imagine you are at home on a weekend, relaxing after a long week of school. Suddenly, your friend mentions you on something. Someone has just posted an old embarrassing video of you. You frantically check the comments, seeing that mos of your classmates have seen the video already. You try to calm your nerves, trying to convince yourself that it’s not such a big deal. At school, many of your classmates make fun of you. Some of your friends stop hanging out with you, so they won’t be targeted as well. You feel helpless and weak. You can’t focus on any homework anymore. This is reality for many kids and teenagers today. Schools should place appropriate limits on student online speech, so that cyberbullying can be prevented.

Cyberbullying causes the victim to have reduced self-esteem and confidence.. In a survey conducted by the Joint ATL and the Teacher Support Network on April 5 2009, 15.1% of British school teachers were reported to be cyberbullied, and 38.6% of those teachers reported having reduced confidence and self-esteem. At a crucial developmental age, teenagers want to be accepted by their peers. So to be excluded from everyone else would make the victim lose self-esteem and confidence, making them feel like they are the problem. 

Schools are required to take steps to stop any harassment happening.  An excerpt from a letter by Russalyn Ali on the topic of bullying and harassment in schools, reads, “Harassment does not have to include intent to harm, be directed at a specific target, or involve repeated incidents.  . . . A school is responsible for addressing harassment incidents about which it knows or reasonably should have known.” The author understands that harassment can effect young people severely, and that schools should take steps to stop and prevent it. If cyberbullying falls under harassment, the perpetrator should be punished, and the school should take steps to prevent more incidents from happening. 

In conclusion, Cyberbullying is an important issue that affects many young people negatively, and that schools should take steps to stop and prevent cyberbullying from happening.