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Tom McHale

Why New Jersey's Antibullying Law Should Be a Model for Other States | TIME.com - 0 views

shared by Tom McHale on 17 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • On Sept. 1, New Jersey’s new antibullying law — billed as the nation’s toughest — took effect. The law, which co-sponsor Barbara Buono, the state’s senate majority leader, called “a powerful message to every child in New Jersey,” is an important step forward in combating the bullying of young people.
    • Tom McHale
       
      intro of topic and opinion
  • Critics say the law is too burdensome for teachers and too expensive for school districts and will spawn too many lawsuits.
    • Tom McHale
       
      Lists counter-arguments
  • But here’s why New Jersey should ignore its critics and press ahead — and why other states should follow its lead.
    • Tom McHale
       
      States purpose or thesis of essay
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • Clementi committed suicide last Septe
  • mber after his roommate allegedly took a video of his romantic encounter with a man and streamed it on the Internet. (VIDEO: Chris Colfer Talks Glee, Bullying and Being Yourself) The state responded by indicting Clementi’s roommate on hate-crime charges, but it also did something farther reaching: legislators drafted a law requiring its public schools to adopt extensive antibullying policies. Forty-seven states already have antibullying statutes on the books (New Jersey had a weaker law in place previously), but the new law goes far beyond what most others require. Among other things, New Jersey schools must conduct extensive training of staff and students; appoint safety teams made up of parents, teachers and staff; and launch an investigation of every allegation of bullying within one day.
    • Tom McHale
       
      Background or context and details provided for the topic.
  • These particulars are important, but perhaps the most significant thing about the New Jersey law is the strong message it sends. Other states’ laws have similar aims but lack the rigorous oversight and quick response mechanisms that New Jersey is putting in place. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights unambiguously puts the state, school officials and law enforcement on the side of victims — and it puts bullies on notice.
    • Tom McHale
       
      Expands on argument - why the law is a good thing
  • But now that it is being implemented, critics are attacking it as being too demanding and too costly. In a recent New York Times article headlined “Bullying Law Puts New Jersey Schools on Spot,” school officials complained that the new law imposes excessive requirements while not providing necessary resources.
    • Tom McHale
       
      Counter-argument
  • The critics’ concerns are not entirely trivial. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights has a lot of rules, including 18 pages of “required components.” Training staff will be a lot of work, and it will be expensive for cash-strapped school districts. Making matters worse, any estimate of extra costs, in terms of demands on existing staff and the possible need for outside consultants, is difficult; even the New Jersey’s legislature’s own fiscal estimate ducked the issue. The law also contains a good deal of language that will be challenging to interpret. It defines bullying as, among other things, creating a hostile educational environment “by interfering with a student’s education or by severely or pervasively causing physical or emotional harm to the student.” When does a schoolyard jibe or a mean comment in the cafeteria cross the line? It will require thoughtful interpretation. The law will also, necessarily, thrust school officials into the tricky area of policing student expression, including statements made off campus. This puts schools in a bit of a bind: in several recent rulings, federal courts have reminded schools that they must respect the free-speech rights of their students, even when that speech is harsh or provocative. New Jersey’s law pushes schools in the opposite direction, requiring them to monitor and police certain kinds of speech.
  • There is, however, a broad answer to these concerns: effective antibullying laws are worth the trouble. Bullying is a serious national problem, and Clementi is far from the only student in recent years believed to have taken his life over it. Last year, the parents of Sladjana Vidovic, a Croatian student who attended high school in Mentor, Ohio, sued after their daughter hanged herself. Sladjana is one of five students in Mentor who killed themselves in a span of a little more than three years after allegedly being bullied. Of course, there are countless instances every year of bullying in which the victims do not kill themselves but are nevertheless greatly affected. They drop out. They turn to drugs or alcohol, or run away from home. Or they simply suffer in silence.
    • Tom McHale
       
      Emotional argument - examples of kids dying and suffering.
  • The bipartisan and near unanimous support for the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights in the state legislature shows how united New Jerseyans are in the belief that stronger steps must be taken to combat bullying. Even if implementing the law is not easy, it is clearly something the citizenry wants done.
    • Tom McHale
       
      Argument that everyone supports it because politicians voted for it.
  • There may be kinks to work out in the new law, but the big picture is that New Jersey is putting itself out in front nationally on the issue of bullying — and standing firmly with the victims. That is the right place to be.
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      Conclusion that leaves the reader with something to think about - emotional appeal
  • Critics of the new law complain that it will open the floodgates to lawsuits. The New Jersey Lawsuit Reform Alliance has charged that the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights essentially gives trial lawyers “a blank check to sue school districts on behalf of bullied children.”
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      Another counter-argument
Tom McHale

Welcome | Teaching Copyright - 0 views

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    "Teaching Copyright provides lessons and ideas for opening your classroom up to discussion, letting your students express their ideas and concerns, and then guiding your students toward an understanding of the boundaries of copyright law. In five distinct lessons, students are challenged to: Reflect on what they already know about copyright law. See the connection between the history of innovation and the history of copyright law. Learn about fair use, free speech, and the public domain and how those concepts relate to using materials created by others. Experience various stakeholders' interests and master the principles of fair use through a mock trial. Teaching Copyright will require your students to think about their role in the online world and provide them with the legal framework they need to make informed choices about their online behavior."
Tom McHale

Could America and the World Become a Real Version of Dystopian Fiction? | Thomas Jeffer... - 1 views

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    "Big government and big media are dominating American society and suffocating free speech. Who will rise up?"
Tom McHale

Free Expression on Social Media | Freedom Forum Institute - 0 views

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    "The First Amendment protects individuals from government censorship. Social media platforms are private companies, and can censor what people post on their websites as they see fit. But given their growing role in public discourse, it's important to ask ourselves-what exactly are their censorship policies? How do they compare to each other, and to the First Amendment's protections?"
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