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Deliberating in a Democracy National Institute Tackles Controversial Issues

Oak Brook, IL (October 11, 2010) -- Teachers listened intently as FBI Special Agent Patrick Geahan spoke of Ryan Halligan, a young boy who committed suicide after experiencing "cyberbullying" at the hands of his classmates. Ryan was only 13 when he took his own life after being taunted online because of his learning disorder.

Geahan addressed teachers from all over the country as part of the 2010 Deliberating in a Democracy (DID) National Institute on Columbus Day weekend. Conducted by the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, DID encourages teachers and students to explore controversial issues such as cyberbullying in their classrooms.

In light of Ryan's and other similar online tragedies, the teachers agreed that cyberbullying demands serious attention, but they struggled to balance the roles that schools and the legal system should play when punishing cyberbullying. They quickly focused on a central question -- should schools discipline their students for off-campus cyber-bullying, or is this a job that should be left to judges and juries?

During the two-day institute, teachers received training and classroom materials and met with veteran DID teachers to learn how to conduct effective deliberations with their students. Participants came from New York, Wisconsin, and Washington D.C., as well as the Chicago area.

"I'm happy that my students will have a reliable reading that they can pick apart and use for deliberation," said Lindsay Pepping, a teacher from Lyons Township High School in La Grange, IL. "Now they can actively teach each other every part of an issue. These extra resources give me a better strategy for teaching the topics that I already wanted to cover."

The Institute also featured veteran DID teachers who shared their insights and expertise in administering classroom deliberations. "I learned a lot from the experienced teachers – how they implement their ideas, and how to support the students who are struggling," noted Allegra Felter, a teacher from City Polytechnic High School in Brooklyn, NY. "This conference has given my students and me a lot of important things to think about."

After deliberations in small groups scattered throughout the conference room, a majority of teachers agreed that schools should be allowed to punish students for off-campus cyberbullying. The DID lesson also required the teachers to try and articulate the competing view during the deliberation. The emphasis on understanding and articulating both sides of the issue is an important element of the DID curriculum.

"Students need opportunities to talk about issues like cyberbullying," said CRFC Executive Director Nisan Chavkin. "DID not only brings these issues to the table, it provides a model for how to talk about them by asking students to grapple with what our democracy should do to address the problem."