My Bodyguard, Back To The Future, Or Mean Girls

Ah, the Internet; quite possibly the greatest invention of our time. The list of benefits society now enjoys because of this miraculous invention is endless. If given the choice, would any of us willingly return to those pre-Internet days when “checking my mail” required walking to the mailbox and “surfing” required waves and a surfboard?

Unfortunately, because it is available to everyone – both good and bad, criminals have found a way to exploit the beneficial aspects of the Internet. For instance, child predators use the anonymity of the Internet to prey on unsuspecting children. Hackers use information obtained from corporate databases to steal identities and ruin credit. We hear stories about such criminal activity on the news and take

We’ve seen the movies… My Bodyguard, Back to the Future, or Mean Girls. In the past, bullying for boys usually meant physical intimidation. For girls, it meant being rejected by the “popular” group of girls or being called nicknames based on physical characteristics (i.e. “fatty”, “four eyes”, or just plain “ugly”). However as society has evolved, so has the level of creativity and cruelty used by bullies to make life unbearable for those they target. Dan Olweus, widely regarded as the pioneer researcher in the field of bullying, states "A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself"

Therefore, if a child between the ages of seven to 16 is convicted under the new laws of an offence that attracts a fine or prison term, the court will be allowed to deal with him under the Children and Young Persons Act.

This allows the court to order counselling or probation where appropriate, for example.

The Ministry of Education has existing guidelines to help schools come up with disciplinary procedures for dealing with bullying among students. But it may refine these guidelines for more synergy with the Bill. A school bullying management kit for all primary and secondary schools has also been developed by the MOE. Targeted at schools and teachers, it provides information on how to identify and respond to bullying. Protecting children from the ills of online bullying, though, cannot be the job of schools alone. Parents, too, have a role to play. (The Straits Times, 14 March 14)

Effects of