This book is directed to academics, educators, and government policy-makers who are concerned about addressing emerging cyber-bullying and anti-authority student expressions through the use of cell phone and Internet technologies. There is a current policy vacuum relating to the extent of educators' legal responsibilities to intervene when such expression takes place outside of school hours and school grounds on home computers and personal cell phones. Students, teachers, and school officials are often targets of such expression. The author analyzes government and school responses by reviewing positivist paradigms. Her review of a range of legal frameworks and judicial decisions from constitutional, human rights, child protection, and tort law perspectives redirects attention to legally substantive and pluralistic approaches that can help schools balance student free expression, supervision, safety, and learning.

Table of Contents

1. Cyber-misconduct: who is lord of the bullies?; 2. Profile of traditional and cyber-bullying; 3. Cyber-libel or criminal harassment: when do kids cross the line?; 4. Student free expression: do the schoolhouse gates extend to cyber-space?; 5. Fostering positive school environments: physical and virtual; 6. Censoring cyber-space: can kids be controlled?; 7. The tragedy of the commons: lessons for cyber-space?; 8. Cyber-collaboration: models for critical legal pluralism in teacher education programs; 9. Conclusion.

Author Biography

Professor Shariff is an Associate Professor in the faculty of education at McGill University. Her publications include Censorship!...or...Selection?: Confronting a Curriculum of Orthodoxy through Pluralistic Models and Cyber-Bullying: Issues and Solutions for the School, the Classroom, and the Home.