Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T14:40:15.754Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Censoring Cyberspace: Can Kids Be Controlled?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2009

Shaheen Shariff
Shaheen Shariff
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Get access

Summary

Bullying using a new information technology … gives kids way more power than they've had.

(School superintendent Anne Kerr, as quoted in Girard & Nguyen, 2007)

INTRODUCTION

School authorities look for ways to control online expression that defames or insults peers and teachers, believing it has become completely out of control. Is this really the case? Why is there such a fear among school officials that information technologies give students too much power? This chapter looks at ways in which school stakeholders influence the development and implementation of censorship laws that are designed to control not only what students express but also what they learn on a regular basis. The concern among school officials that information technology gives students too much power is grounded in the fear that technology can also change knowledge production and control of that knowledge production. As a result, the normative role of schools is challenged and compromised. Consequently, educators look for legal options grounded in positivistic responses, such as criminal law, legislation that forces schools and libraries to filter certain programs (Deleting Online Predators Act, 2006), and zero-tolerance policies rooted in military models of discipline (Skiba & Peterson, 1999). Yet as we have seen in earlier chapters, students are raising substantive legal defenses, grounded in fundamental principles of justice.

Type
Chapter
Information
Confronting Cyber-Bullying
What Schools Need to Know to Control Misconduct and Avoid Legal Consequences
 , pp. 159 - 189
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Library Association. (2006). Challenged or banned books [Electronic version]. Retrieved December 1, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/challengedbanned/challengedbanned.htm.
Apple, M. W., & Christian-Smith, L. K. (1991). The politics of the textbook. In Apple, M. W. & Christian-Smith, L. K. (Eds.), The politics of the textbook (pp. 1–21). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Arons, S. (1986). Compelling belief. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.Google Scholar
Bettelheim, B. (1989). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Boulton, M., & Hawker, D. (1997). Verbal bullying: The myth of “sticks and stones.” In Tattum, D. & Herbert, G. (Eds.), Bullying: Home, school and community (pp. 53–63). London: David Fulton.Google Scholar
Bringelson, C. (2005). On intellectual freedom [Electronic version]. Intellectual Freedom & Social Responsibility, 24. Retrieved November 22, 2006, from http://www.scholibraries.ca/articles/154.aspx.Google Scholar
Brown, L. (2007, July 13). Teachers declare war on cyber-bullying [Electronic version]. TheStar.com. Retrieved August 13, 2007, from http://www.thestar.com/article/235675.Google Scholar
California Grade 9 girl questioned about threats to Bush on MySpace [Electronic version]. (2006, October 13). Yahoo! News Canada. Retrieved October 16, 2006, from http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/061013/ztechnology/myspace_bush_threat.
Campbell, M. (2005). Cyberbullying: An old problem in a new guise?Australian Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 15, 68–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N. (2007). Preface to The myth of the liberal media. In Macedo, D. & Steinberg, S. R. (Eds.), Media literacy: A reader (pp. 24–26). New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Chung, M. (2007, March 25). Online comments were “inside joke.” Posts meant for friends only, teen says [Electronic version]. TheStar.com. Retrieved August 15, 2007, from http://www.thestar.com/article/195823.Google Scholar
Dei, G. S. (1997). Race and the production of identity in the schooling experiences of African-Canadian youth. Discourse studies in the cultural politics of education, 18, 241–257.Google Scholar
Deleting Online Predators Act. H.R. 5319. (2006).
Dick, J., & Canadian Library Association. (1982). Not in our schools?!!!: School book censorship in Canada: A discussion guide. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association.Google Scholar
DiGiulio, R. C. (2001). Educate, mediate, or litigate? What teachers, parents, and administrators must do about student behavior. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.Google Scholar
Dolmage, W. R. (2000). Lies, damned lies and statistics: The media's treatment of youth violence. Education & Law Journal, 10, 1–46.Google Scholar
Edwards, L. Y. (2005). Victims, villains, and vixens. In Mazzarella, S. R. (Ed.), Girl wide web (pp. 13–30). New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Foerstel, H. N. (1994). Banned in the U.S.A.: A reference guide to book censorship in schools and public libraries. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Girard, D., & Nguyen, L. (2007, March 24). Students, police clash [Electronic version]. TheStar.com. Retrieved April 1, 2007, from http://www.thestar.com/article/195604.Google Scholar
Glover, D., Cartwright, N., & Gleeson, D. (1998). Towards bully-free schools. Buckingham/Philadelphia: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Handa, S. (1997). Caught between omissions: Exploring “culture conflict” among second generation South Asian women in Canada. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, Toronto.Google Scholar
Herzog, M. J. R. (1995). School censorship experiences of teachers in southern Appalachia. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8, 137–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, R. B., & Covell, K. (2000). Schools and the participation rights of the child. Education and Law Journal, 10, 107–123.Google Scholar
Jalongo, M. R., & Creany, A. D. (1991). Censorship in children's literature: What every educator should know. Childhood Education, 67, 143–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiwani, Y. (2001). Mapping violence: A work in progress. Vancouver, BC: Feminist Research, Education, Development and Action Centre, Simon Fraser University.Google Scholar
Juvonen, J., & Graham, S. (2001). Peer harassment in school: The plight of the vulnerable and victimized. New York/London: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Katch, J. (2001). Under deadman's skin: Discovering the meaning of children's violent play. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2006). New literacies: Everyday practices and classroom learning (2nd ed.). Maidenhead, England/New York: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Larson, C. L. (1997). Is the Land of Oz an alien nation? A sociopolitical study of school community conflict. Educational Administration Quarterly, 33, 312–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maag, C., (28 November, 2007). A hoax turned fatal draws anger but no charges. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/us/28hoax.html., accessed January 13, 2008.
Macedo, D., & Steinberg, S. R. (2007). Media literacy: A reader. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
MacKay, A. W., & Flood, S. (2001). Negligence principles in the school context: New challenges for the “careful parent.”Education & Law Journal, 10, 371–392.Google Scholar
Mazzarella, S. R. (Ed.). (2005). Girl wide web. Girls, the Internet, and the negotiation of identity. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
National Crime Prevention Council. (1997). Report on bullying. Retrieved July 24, 2005, from http://www.crime-prevention.org.
Noll, E. (1994). The ripple effect of censorship: Silencing in the classroom. English Journal, 83, 59–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olweus, D. (1978). Aggression in the schools: Bullies and whipping boys. Washington, DC/New York: Hemisphere.Google Scholar
Ontario College of Teachers. (2007). COMPAS state of the teaching profession [Electronic version]. Professionally Speaking, the Magazine of the Ontario College of Teachers. Retrieved August 28, 2007, from http://www.oct.ca/publications/PDF/survey07_e.pdf.
Perkins, C. (1997). Any more colorful we'd have to censor it. In Castell, S. & Bryson, M. (Eds.), Radical in-ter-ventions: Identity, politics and differences in educational praxis (pp. 247–268). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Press Association. (2006, February 8). Teachers to be given powers outside school [Electronic version]. Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved July 22, 2007, from http://education.guardian.co.uk/pupilbehaviour/story/0,1705138,00.html.
Razack, S. (1998). Looking white people in the eye: Gender, race, and culture in courtrooms and classrooms. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Roher, E. (2007, April). Intimidation.com: Dealing with cyberbullying. Paper presented at the Canadian Association for the Practical Study of Law in Education (CAPSLE) Conference, Vancouver, BC.Google Scholar
Ross-Epp, J. (1996). Schools, complicity, and sources of violence. In Epp, J. Ross & Watkinson, A. M. (Eds.), Systemic violence: How schools hurt children (pp. 1–25). London: Falmer Press.Google Scholar
Rusk, J. (2007, February 13). High school suspends 19 for bullying principal on Web site [Electronic version]. Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 13, 2007, from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070213.wxfacebook13/BNStory/.Google Scholar
Sacco, M. (1994). The censorship of young adult literature. In Brown, J. E. (Ed.), Preserving intellectual freedom: Fighting censorship in our schools (pp. 63–72). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.Google Scholar
Sefa-Dei, G. (1997). Race and production of identity in the schooling experiences of African-Canadian youth. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 18, 241–256.Google Scholar
Shaheen, J. G. (2000). Hollywood's Muslim Arabs. Muslim World, 90, 22–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaheen, J. (2003). Reel bad Arabs: How Hollywood vilifies a people. Annals of the American Academy of Political Social Science, 588, 171–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shariff, S. (2003). A system on trial: Identifying legal standards for educational, ethical and legally defensible approaches to bullying in schools. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC.Google Scholar
Shariff, S. (2007). Unpublished research conducted as part of a three-year research project on cyber-bullying, funded by Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Shaheen Shariff, McGill University, Principal Investigator.
Shariff, S., Case, R., & LaRocque, L. (2001). Begging the questions: The court of appeal decision in the Surrey school board controversy. Education & Law Journal, 11, 85–111.Google Scholar
Shariff, S., Case, R., & Manley-Casimir, M. (2000). Balancing competing rights in education: Surrey School Board's book ban. Education & Law Journal, 10, 47–105.Google Scholar
Shariff, S., & Johnny, L. (2007). Censorship! …or …Selection?: Confronting a curriculum of orthodoxy through pluralistic models. Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Sense.Google Scholar
Shariff, S., & Manley-Casimir, M. E. (1999). Censorship in schools: Orthodoxy, diversity & cultural coherence. In Petersen, K. & Hutchinson, A. C. (Eds.), Interpreting censorship in Canada (pp. 157–181). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Schriever, B. (2007). Cyberbullying: Students have always gossiped and complained about their teachers. But in cyberspace such behaviour can take a life of its own [Electronic version]. Professionally Speaking, the Magazine of the Ontario College of Teachers. Retrieved August 28, 2007, from http://www.oct.ca/publications/professionally_speaking/September_2007/cyberbullying.asp.Google Scholar
Skiba, R., & Peterson, R. (1999). The dark side of zero tolerance: Can punishment lead to safe schools?Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 372–376, 381–383.Google Scholar
Smith, P. K., & Sharp, S. (1994). School bullying: Insights and perspectives. London/ New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations. (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. New York: United Nations.
Wallechinsky, D., Wallace, A., Basen, I., & Farrow, J. (2005). The book of lists. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada.Google Scholar
Wason-Ellam, L. (1996). Voices from the shadows. In Epp, J. R. & Watkinson, A. M. (Eds.), Systemic violence: How schools hurt children (pp. 93–104). London: Falmer Press.Google Scholar
Wyman, M. (2000a, October 21). Rowling thunder. Vancouver Sun, pp. B1, B5.Google Scholar
Wyman, M. (2000b, October 26). You can lead a fool to a book but you can't make them think. Vancouver Sun, pp. A1, A4.Google Scholar
A. B. v. State of Indiana, No. 67A01-0609-JV-372, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 694 (Ind. Ct. App. Apr. 9, 2007).
Lutes v. Board of Education of Prairie View School Division No. 74, 101 Sask. R 232 (1992).

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×