DESCRIPTION OF THE SUCCESS STORY
In our school there are episodes of "classic" bullying.
But the "contemporary" abuse of power increasingly takes the form of cyberbullying. Given the form of this phenomenon, it can involve a single person or a class as a whole: in our case, both of them.
A 25 student second class, women in the majority, as usually occurs in our Institute, is divided into small groups that hardly interact with each other. The absolute stars, the female students.
Sabrina is one of them, having had someboyfriends in the past who,had left her for other girls of the same class. Teachers notice some strange situations occuring during normal lessons and some jokes. They get some information from students from other classes and they detect numerous absences of Sabrina, an unusual behaviour for her. On the basis of all this the Class Council has verified a situation of cyberbullying.
On the network, it appeared a new profile where you could read and see comments and videos that aimed to offend the student, with specific (offensive) references to her body, to her (presumed) sexual lifestyle , to her (presumed) rejection of a personal cleanliness. A harsh criticism that leads to a final sentence: the judgment enroll many and few are those who criticize the post delivered to that network.
This situation has roused repeated interventions in the network by Sabrina , who, thinking to defend herself, wrote speeches equally offensive, provoking a debate which was attended by a group of students who defended her, on the contrary a small group of students strengthened the jokes against her more and more aggressive. There were class males who said they were uninterested in the event giving her any solidarity but pointing out the hypocrisy of the girls who do not have the courage to declare openly their way of thinking ..
Before proceeding along the institutional channels, ie to inform the Postal Police to remove what was on the network, the school has considered an alternative path, centred on information, the presentation of individual rights, the value of the person as such, the legal consequences of the actions and personal repercussions of those living with these situations.
Instead of lessons, "classic", distributing the space class in a different way (circle time), placing at the basis of the dialogue, the absence of judgment towards anyone. Students were invited to receive the message offered by the school and participate in bringing their own opinions.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
At the end of the path it has occurred the temporary cancellation of the profile and the recovery (which was assigned to students from different classes) the conscious choice not to participate with any offensive actions not only against Sabrina but about all members of the class. The situation has partly improved in the classroom: the relationships between the students are guided by a formal correctness only, not deep, but still within the rules governing the daily life.
The story of Sabrina is unfortunately widespread.
Once the habit to convey to the personal reflections was by writing a diary or a theme, it is now in the network that you are delivering messages of all types. You can find anything even on school, on teachers ... let alone on students. In particular girls. The issue had a double aspect.
The first directly affecting Sabrina as a student and as a girl: As a female she felt offended in her heart, as a student, the atmosphere created in the class could not but have repercussions in poor school performance and abandonment of the school..
A second aspect is clear: the lack of awareness of acting on the network and the possible negative consequences for those who work incorrectly..
The school, through the Class Council, has decided to use human resources to promptly deal with the situation by basing the lessons as clarification and information, communicating also the possibility of involving official state bodies in charge.
The removal from the network it points out a first success of the educational team: it is possible (necessary) to supplement and replace tthe "classic" lessons with other educational pathways able to grow our students so that they become mature people.
which ended with the admission of Sabrina to the next class: not all problems have been solved at the level of interpersonal relationships, but it is important to remember that the resumption of the "discussion" on the network, none of the class has participated in, or claims to have written messages using a nickname.:
A last success is made from the network, this time in the positive. The episode could not pass unnoticed: always on the network many have written about the actions taken by the school in order to what we have called "the case of cyberbullying." Not all were positive, but there was a wide appreciation for the interest shown and the information provided.
