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Ridiculous idea. You think teachers don't talk to kids? Really? Unless they are demanding a story. Do you really think it would be easy to track a school's worth of gossip? No way.
Side rant: why did the first 3 people that replied to this post feel the need to quote the entire first post? Stop doing that.
I mean talk to them where the student is allowed to tell an entire, "trivial" story without the teacher making up a reason to go do something else.
That's not really "talking" to them, as much as pretending to listen.
No, it wouldn't be easy. That's why you're hiring someone.
If it were easy, the school would just naturally already know.
I am sorry, but your idea makes little sense. It would be too time and money intensive and would most likely not work.
The problem is that to combat bullying at the older ages, you really need to socialize kids and teach empathy at the younger ages. Without a comprehensive program that starts in preK or K, you cannot stop middle school and high school bullying.
So are we saying it's too much effort for our kids?
How are we supposed to convince them to study extra hard for tests if that is the message we are sending?
I also have to disagree with your 2nd point. Kids were much more social 50 years ago and it sounds like from the older posters that bullying was just as common then.
That has got to be the most ridiculous idea that I have ever heard..you want the schools to hire someone to listen to rumors and possibly prevent something before it starts? On top of all that, WHO is going to pay for it? We do have someone that does that kind of stuff, it's called Communities in Schools or CIS and schools have social works, psychiatrists, counselors and education diagnosticians..jesus man, what more do you want?
Oh wait, I have an idea and it's simple, hold the students accountable and get the parents involved since it is THEIR job to parent their child! Wow, easy huh?
Of course that would be easy.
But do you really think that getting the parents involved is as easy as telling them to do so?
Of course not! That's why we have these problems in the first place!
You can't just say, "Well the parents should parent their child." when they have showed a complete unwillingness to do so to this point.
I find the social workers, psychiatrists, etc. ineffective because they aren't very identifiable to the students. They sit in their little office in the hallway and kids feel ashamed to go see them, unless it's already really bad. At that point, it's really too late to do anything meaningful. The attitudes against these kids are already strongly formed.
So are we saying it's too much effort for our kids?
How are we supposed to convince them to study extra hard for tests if that is the message we are sending?
I also have to disagree with your 2nd point. Kids were much more social 50 years ago and it sounds like from the older posters that bullying was just as common then.
No kids were not *much more social* 50 years ago. We were left much more to our own devices without any adults intervening, so of course, bullying went on. Parents said *boys will be boys* or *kids need to learn to deal with this by themselves* back in my day. Kids need to be taught empathy at younger ages especially nowadays.
It's NOT that the effort is too much, it is that the effort you are describing is not a very effective idea.
You have to start young and have a comprehensive program in PreK to 4th grade that continues on into middle school and high school.
I suggest you look at the curriculums of the elementary schools. Unfortunately, they do not include much in the way of teaching cooperation nowadays. This is where we could make a difference, but the emphasis on testing prevents it.
OMG our elementary school could not teach cooperation more if they tried.
Most projects are group projects in our grade, and they attend class with the guidance counselor twice a week to study a character-building curriculum. Twice a year the whole grade attends a seminar on the subject and speakers regularly address the PTO.
IMHO, the root of bullying is insecurity, and unless you come up with something to combat human nature, bullying will persist.
What do you think having an adult narc writing down everything they say and do says to them?
It's so obvious you don't have kids.
The adult shouldn't write it down write at the time.
You should keep track of major themes mentally and write it down when you get home.
If it was important to you, you could memorize it couldn't you?
I'm sure you could get away with writing down an especially complicated story though. You could say, "hey, let's write this down, this is such an amazingly hilarious story!"
I'm guessing that an adult school employee acting as essentially an undercover bullying narc would not be someone students trust and are open with for long.
Bullying, exclusion, and petty rivalries will continue to exist in schools among students just as they exist in all walks of life. Those teachers? Trust me when I tell you with personal authority that their faculty lounge is full of just as much bullying, exclusion, and petty rivalry as their classrooms are. It doesn't go away, and people don't outgrow it. A better use of time and resources would be to incorporate ways to teach students to handle those realities of human nature and behavior and respond in a healthy, manageable, useful and realistic manner, because they won't be going away.
Teachers need to be aware of harrassment going on with the students with whom they work, and address it...they're ethically bound to address such things. But people being mean, unfair, petty, and snotty is a part of life. Kids need to be given the skills to practice dealing with it in a functional manner, not have somebody policing it so they never have to.
OMG our elementary school could not teach cooperation more if they tried.
Most projects are group projects in our grade, and they attend class with the guidance counselor twice a week to study a character-building curriculum. Twice a year the whole grade attends a seminar on the subject and speakers regularly address the PTO.
IMHO, the root of bullying is insecurity, and unless you come up with something to combat human nature, bullying will persist.
This is what I'm saying. All of these programs are based on the adult talking down to the kids.
My idea feels better because the adult is directly listening to the kids and the kids feel empowered by being on a more equal level with the adult.
That is why I suggest the school hiring an additional person because it would be too foreign to a teacher to do this.
No kids were not *much more social* 50 years ago. We were left much more to our own devices without any adults intervening, so of course, bullying went on. Parents said *boys will be boys* or *kids need to learn to deal with this by themselves* back in my day. Kids need to be taught empathy at younger ages especially nowadays.
It's NOT that the effort is too much, it is that the effort you are describing is not a very effective idea.
You have to start young and have a comprehensive program in PreK to 4th grade that continues on into middle school and high school.
I suggest you look at the curriculums of the elementary schools. Unfortunately, they do not include much in the way of teaching cooperation nowadays. This is where we could make a difference, but the emphasis on testing prevents it.
All I hear from older people is that "kids are so much more anti-social these days."
Doesn't that mean by default that kids were MORE social back in the day.
My point is that if the answer to no bullying is more socialization, than that clearly can't be true based on what I just described.
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