Don't laugh at me, don't call me names, don't get your pleasure from my pain

The game has changed when it comes to bullying due to advancements in technology. Even though most bullies are not physically hurting kids anymore, cyber bullying has been shown to be just, if not more effective than physical bullying. When looking at the packet, "When Cyberbullying Turns Deadly," there are many cases where kids are cyberbullied into suicide. The reason why cyber bullying is so effective is because it is so public. Instead of a kid being pushed into a locker, the whole school can find out that a kid is gay, bisexual, or a lesbian. Inner secrets can be unleashed to everyone, which makes everything much more embarrassing. More kids verbally abuse kids by cyberbullying, rather than physically abusing a kid because it is not face to face. Anyone can do it because all you have to do is send a text or write a message on the Internet with no repercussions from the kid that is being bullied.

One case that was mentioned in the packet was the suicide of Jeffrey Johnston. Johnston was a different looking kid in middle school because of his height and long hair that he was growing out for Locks of Love, which were some of the reasons for why he was consistently picked on. Johnston was picked throughout middle school and through the beginning of high school. He was called a stalker and verbally bullied online after breaking up with a girl, and someone hacked into his video gaming account and wrote many rude comments. He never could get over all of this abuse, and he later hanged himself in his room. Because it is so easy to continue on verbally abusing someone online, kids do it and because it is so frequent, it ends up being more affective than physically bullying.

After doing research on some of the cases read in the packet, and other cases relating to cyberbullying outside of the packet, the main question that is raised from the suicides is whether it was the cyberbullying that caused the suicide. Jeff Glor of CBS News was reporting on Alexis Pilkington, who also committed suicide after numerous accounts of cyberbullying. Glor reported that about 42% of kids claim that they have been cyber bullied, which is why it is so hard to accuse people for causing suicide by cyberbullying because so many people are affected by it and do not end up committing suicide. Although laws have been passed in some states, it is still extremely hard to pin someone done for cyberbullying because it his difficult to determine whether it was the cyberbullying that caused the suicide.

In Deerfield High School I do believe that cyberbullying exists to a certain extent. Kids are made fun of and lightly verbally abused on the internet, however when it gets too abusive the school takes notice and stops it. Even though it may be outside of the schools control, that flexibility that schools are granted allows for the schools to limit cyberbullying so that kids to not kill themselves. There is also a very limited amount of physical bullying that occurs at our school, which is why I feel that our school does not have a very big bullying problem. I'm sure verbal abuse does occur at our school, but not enough for the school to make any new changes. Some of the things that the high school could do is show a presentation of people who were affected by cyberbullying, and how they were able to cope with it. A Challenge Day could also be beneficial, but it does not seem like that would be taken too seriously at our school. The best thing for the school to do is if there is ever a case where someone is being bullied too much then they talk to that person to help them cope with it, and eventually stop the bullying.

Is Drug Testing Right? No. Is Drug Testing Effective? Yes.

Drug testing in high schools is a complete violation of students privacy and Fourth Amendment. However high school is a different environment than the outside world. In high school there is much more flexibility of the laws in the Fourth Amendment. In the Majority Opinion of the the New Jersey v. T.L.O case, the Majority Opinion talked about how hard it is for schools officials to maintain order in the school, which is why they need to be able to bend some of the rules. "We have recognized that maintaining security and order int he schools requires a certain degree of flexibility in school disciplinary procedures, and we have respected the value of preserving the informality of the student-teacher relationship." High schools have very little control of their students and without more rules then school would fail. Although the rules seem unfair, and against the United States Constitution, they are necessary to help prevent drug use in high school. Drug use is abused at an extremely high rate in high school, and it effects students in athletics, during classes, and other extra curricular activities.

A random drug test would allow schools to crack down on this problem by enforcing strict penalties if found positive for drug use. One of the main arguments against drug testing is the privacy issue. If done right then this can be considered not an issue anymore. If they allow the student to go into a stall by themselves, then it is just like going to the bathroom at a restaurant. Drug testing is something that from a student's view point is annoying because they feel that it is an invasion of privacy and it is the school policing the students. Drugs are illegal, in and out of school, so if drug testing is the way to stop kids from abusing drugs, then schools are going to do it.

Schools can take this power of a flexible Fourth Amendment too far. One instance of this was when there was a lock down search in Missouri and students purses, backpacks, and more were searched by the police department. Even though this was random searching, it was disrupting the school day, and crossing the line in going into students privacy. These were intense searches that gave off a hostile environment at the school. Another case where schools take invasion of privacy too far was at Safford Middle School. Savana Redding was accused of giving a student two ibuprofen pills. She was strip searched by the nurse at the school and Redding said that she never felt so embarrassed in her whole life. The school went way too rough on this student, and definitely pushed the limit of invading a students privacy by forcing them to strip and then be searched. This is why there must be a good balance of invading students privacy to maintain order, but not go too far because it can end up making students feel uncomfortable and end up disrupting a school day.