What Do You Think?

[Diane Lane]

There are many stories in the news about fights, bullying, and violence among our youth, and I've been thinking of possible solutions. Do you think teaching conflict resolution and stress management techniques in public schools could decrease these incidents by emphasizing the importance of cooperation and helping children to build positive coping skills?

 

[missbishi]

It's entirely possible and it's certainly a valid idea. It really could be beneficial but it's important to remember that kids don't learn everything they know from school - thier home environment is also a massive influence on their behavior. So extending these classes to parents could also be a massive help.

 

[dyanmarie25]

Well, I think that would be a good idea. It could be a big help for honing their behavior/attitude on dealing with other people.

 

[Patrick]

I think it could help, in any case introducing more freedom and power for teachers to organize such lessons to help their students instead of a no-tolerance policy is a very needed change.

 

[lushlala]

This can only have a positive outcome because let's face it, there's nothing of that nature currently offered in the curriculum. In my opinion, this could really help in shaping the youth into more tolerant, calmer, more discipline and level headed adults. I wonder why something of this nature has never been incorporated into the school curriculum?!

 

[katherine25]

It wouldn't hurt! There's no guarantee it would work but it couldn't cause any harm. I think something needs to change so this would definitely be a good start!

 

[Josie]

It starts in the home. Most kids bully because they feel helpless in other areas of their lives.. they're being bullied themselves, or at least feel they are, in the home or elsewhere.. given no control of their lives and so they go to school and take back their control in harmful ways. I do believe there needs to be some sort of bullying education in school. If you open it up wide enough and get really honest about the bully themselves, they may be too ashamed to bully someone in the future.. but then you risk them getting self destructive in other ways.. so I can't see a complete solution to this without getting invasive, but I do see it helping some.

 

[Gabe]

I don't think you can teach cooperation as many adults refuse to cooperate and it's down to personality. I do think skills in how to behave towards others is important as some parents don't know how themselves, so how can they teach others?

These are life skills and ones that people don't consider valuable or academic, but they are the basis for humanity and how society develops. Maybe parents should have classes too, because some do appear to need them.

 

[FuZyOn]

That would be wonderful for the little kids that aren't experienced with this kind of situations. Usually parents don't notice that they need to teach certain things and the matter is overlooked.
Having people teach kids basic coping skills would be beneficial.

 

[Diane Lane]

My hope is that if these types of skills are taught at school, the children can generalize what they've learned back to the home. I have worked in homes with parents, teaching them parenting and some other skills, and most have been receptive, if only for the duration of the classes. What's really cool is when you see the light bulb going on and know that the parent (or child) understands the message being taught, and cares to learn. Some parents have issues themselves, whether through lack of parenting while growing up, or other reasons, and don't have the capability of teaching these things to their children, but some of those parents being introduced to the subjects from the bottom up (kids to parents) could hopefully make a difference, and potentially change home lives for the better, as well.

 

[Rainman]

I doubt that it would help much.

Kids learn from cartoons, movies and video games that violence is the easiest and fastest way to resolve any conflict. Since violence is "glorified" teaching kids about conflict resolution wouldn't help change their attitudes towards using violence as a means of resolving issues but it could help a little. The kids would at least have no excuse for their behavior should they decide to fight or bully someone.

Unless the media is willing to help fight the vice nothing schools or parents do will have much of an impact [on the kids].

 

[oraclemay]

I do believe this can help and should be implemented right from the start for all students. It should be compulsory for all to take part on a regular basis. This should quickly render the results we are looking for.

 

[JoanMcWench]

If we're talking about general bullying than I suppose teaching ways around it can be a valid place to start. If we're talking about teens/kids bullying? No. Sorry. I wish I could say it would work but they're going to tune any of that out & do what children do: Tease each other. I think deeming everything 'bullying' has been taken too far. What happened to joking around? Did every one skip that part?

 

[musicmonster]

It could probably help. I also believe that if meditation is taught in school, then there will be less violence and we'd all be loving one another.

 

[Diane Lane]

If people don't watch the media, or click the links to their stories, they will be forced to change how they cover the 'news', what they present, and how they present it. I no longer watch the news, because I got tired of the fluff, their spin on stories, and didn't agree with what topics they covered.

 

[Diane Lane]

Yes, there's a difference between goodhearted teasing, and bullying/tormenting someone. It seems nowadays, no one is allowed to get their feelings hurt, without it becoming a federal case. That's what happens in real life, though, and it's best to learn how to roll with the (figurative) punches as a child, and discover that disappointment is a part of life, and learn how to deal with it.

 

[Sunflogun]

I definitely think that the focus on education is wrong. What is taught our kids is history, maths, sciences and so on, but practical things that are needed on a day-to-day basis are neglected and the results are there to be seen. So yes, education could play an important role.