I received an e-mail this morning from a colleague who had been flamed for a recent post. I read one of the blog postings aimed at him and was shocked to see quite inflammatory comments and even image manipulations designed to bring the attack to a more personal level — and this from an educator who is probably a pretty nice fellow in real life.
Some of it, I suspect, is geo-cultural. I’ve seen public confrontations in some parts of my country that would have traumatized people where I grew up. But even though there is little geography on the web, there is still physical distance, and I imagine that some people feel protected by that distance. I think it’s probably more likely that good people are prevented from seeing injury by the distance that separates them from those they harm.
It’s something that we have to figure out, as adults, and figure out how to help our students to learn. Information today is property and we want to protect our property, whether its a book, from which we draw income, or an idea that we’ve invested ourselves in. Information is also a tool, and a hammer can be swung at things other than nails.
In Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century, I wanted to include a information code of ethics for students and teachers. I quickly realized that I’m not smart enough to write one myself. So I looked to a community who was already practicing the type of literacy skills I’d been writing about, and quickly realized that it was journalists. They work to expose the truth, employ information, and express ideas compellingly. So I found the web site for the Society of Professional Journalists, and looked up their code of ethics — and it was a nearly perfect match.
Their executive director gave me permission to adapt their code for students and teachers and to include it in my book. I believe that we must help students learn to:
- Seek the truth and express it,
- Minimize harm,
- Be accountable — be responsible, and
- Protect the information infrastructure.
This is not something that we teach in the 3rd grade, check it off, and go on. It’s not a skill. It’s habit. ..and it needs to be a part of almost every conversation that we have in our classrooms.
There is an MSWord version of the Student and Teacher Code of Ethics on my web site. You are welcome to edit this document for your school community. It is designed to be explored and talked about.
We all invest time and effort into our ideas and writings. We need to come to respect that effort, even if we do not agree with the ideas.
Image Citation:
Tina. “Bully Free Zone!.” Mamabrarian’s Photostream. 1 Nov 2006. 6 Sep 2007 <http://flickr.com/photos/mamabrarian/285659149/>.
Hey, David,
I’m glad you take on this important topic. As a teacher of K-4 children and the father of two–one a senior in HS and the other a 6th grader–I’ve seen far too many instances of one person attempting to elevate him/herself by belittling another, even to the point of threat. Our Middle School parents’ manual has a nice piece about it, intended to help parents help their children learn how to deal with bullying on a personal level; and I’m most impressed with the first step of dealing with bullying–“Name the action for what it is.” Your discussion might help us shed yet a little more light on just what constitutes bullying…
Puhleeease… to imply that my post is bullying is really pushing the boat out.
You could at least have linked to it to let people make up their own mind… here you go: http://incsub.org/blog/2007/be-quiet-listen-to-me-i-know-what-you-need
There was little respectful in Gary’s post and likewise little respectful in mine (well, I did enjoy the history bit) but, to be entirely honest, I think that singling out someone for expressing disagreement and calling them a bully is… you guessed it, bullying.
James,
I have to say that you have exemplified being accountable. I looked a lots of posts, and this idea of adult cyberbullying has been in my head for quite some time. I’ve suffered from it, and I may even have inflicted it.
The last element of the code of ethics and to respect and protect the information infrastructure. That is not merely the wires and routers. It’s also the information. An information environment that become infected with emotional disrespect loses value as a result.
James’ post is more derisive than disrespectful. Gary’s post whatever its merits was an invitation to discussion. I’ve left a couple of protest comments there, the more detailed one is here:
http://incsub.org/blog/2007/be-quiet-listen-to-me-i-know-what-you-need#comment-21071