At the CenterBullying PreventionTuesday, Jun. 19, 2012
Michele Borba, author, speaker, and educator on parenting, character education, and bullying prevention, addressed The Ethics Center's Catholic School Principals Institute yesterday on how to move children from cruelty to compassion.
Borba began by defining bullying as intentional cruelty, where a child picks on someone who is more vulnerable, usually repeatedly. She cited a 2007 study of middle and high school students, which found that one third had been bullied on campus. As reported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development,
Among high school students, 1 out of 9—about 2.8 million teens—reported that they had been pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on during the last school year, while another 1.5 million reported being threatened with physical harm. In the same survey, 900,000 high schoolers reported being cyberbullied—a newer twist on this age-old problem.
Borba went on to describe what she called "heart hardeners," seven factors that diminish a child's empathy, which may lead to bullying:
To combat these trends, Borba talked with the principals about strategies for combating bullying. Drawing on the work of psychologist Dan Olweus, she outlined essential elements of a successful program:
She shared examples of best practices from schools across the country. One program she described asked children to identify the places at school where they did not feel safe. Many respondents cited the school bus stop. In response, the school deployed a group of student "greeters," who met the bus every morning and welcomed their classmates.
One school developed a book club for teachers, giving the staff a common language for discussing character education. Another created Kindness Challenge Days, which asked students to do one kind deed each day for a month and track their progress. Class meetings were another popular approach, allowing children to work together and practice how to disagree respectfully.
More information on Borba's work, including a free download of her "6 R's of Bullying Prevention, is available here.
The Catholic School Principals Institute, a program of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics in collaboration with the Diocese of San Jose, brings educators together to focus on the issues that challenge Catholic school leaders.
Posted by Miriam Schulman
Tags: character education |
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