Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
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Re: Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
#2Reddit discussion:
https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/45sqf9/antibullyin...
PDF from Sci-Hub (donate for free access to scientific research here: http://sci-hub.io/donate):
http://psycnet.apa.org.sci-hub.io/psycarticles/2016-03231-00...
Re: Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
#3"Many K-12 school efforts to reduce bullying have proven not very effective, leading educators to wonder what bullying prevention approach works best."
Could that be because the efforts have focused on having students, mostly those not subject to bullying, stop the bullying? My view is that only teachers and administrators can stop it, and further that teachers and administrators have informal policies that actually foster and increase bullying. Teachers and administrators know who the bullies are, they just don't do anything at all to stop them, probably because the bullies and the teachers and admins are all part of the same power structure.
Re: Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
#4Maybe such a program would be helpful. What I see in depictions of physical bullying is that most people nearby not only don't intervene, they record the incident for subsequent online posting (i.e. self attention-seeking) -- not only a lack of empathy but a self-centered response. Society would certainly benefit from some evolution on that plane.
Re: Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
#5"Many K-12 school efforts to reduce bullying have proven not very effective, leading educators to wonder what bullying prevention approach works best." Could that be because the efforts have focused on having students, mostly those not subject to bullying, stop the bullying? My view is that only teachers and administrators can stop it, and further that teachers and administrators have informal policies that actually…
The official policy from schools lately has been "zero tolerance" for violence, meaning if someone hits you and you defend yourself, you get suspended for just as long as they do. It's set up to let the school wash their hands of any responsibility, but without having to have an uncomfortable "Your kid is an asshole who keeps starting fights" / "My kid is a perfect angel and I'm suing you for suspending him" conversation.
It's not designed to solve the victim's problem, it's designed to make it not the school's problem.
Re: Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
#6I was bullied in middle school (though not as bad as others) and stood by as other kids were bullied.
When I saw other kids bullied, I just stood by because I was scared that I would be bullied more than I was already. I think in a lot of cases, most kids are bystander who are just afraid to do anything because of the fear of reprisal, the loss of status of associating themselves or defending someone who is less cool than them. They're also scared to stand out by being the only one to protest against the bullying
This kind of program helps I think for a couple different reasons:
1. By imagining what they would do in situations when someone else is bullied and how they would intervene to reduce bullying, kids are more likely to defend the bullied when it happens. (see commitment and consistency by Cialdini)
2. Kids see other kids who say that will stop bullying in the future, they then feel more confident that if they speak up they will not be alone.
Re: Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
#7"Many K-12 school efforts to reduce bullying have proven not very effective, leading educators to wonder what bullying prevention approach works best." Could that be because the efforts have focused on having students, mostly those not subject to bullying, stop the bullying? My view is that only teachers and administrators can stop it, and further that teachers and administrators have informal policies that actually…
The budget and political will aren't there to do much more than they already do. A detention here and there, kid's back in class the next day. Parents of bullies are usually uncooperative, to say the least. Combative and with shocking amounts of free time, more often. Academic stats (and therefore budget) suffer just as much for the school regardless of whether the reason two dozen kids did a step worse on the standardized test than they would have is because they spent three weeks each under suspension for bullying. There's no where else to send them, not in the volume they are present. No budget for it, no mandate. We're allergic to categorizing and separating (and hopefully rehabilitating! But... that costs money) kids on the scale that would be necessary.
The teachers and administrators can at best treat the symptoms, not cure the disease. Of course they fail at this as well, sometimes, but there just isn't much they can do unless the bully's so violent that they can kick them out with little risk of losing a lawsuit afterward.
Re: Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
#8"Many K-12 school efforts to reduce bullying have proven not very effective, leading educators to wonder what bullying prevention approach works best." Could that be because the efforts have focused on having students, mostly those not subject to bullying, stop the bullying? My view is that only teachers and administrators can stop it, and further that teachers and administrators have informal policies that actually…
The official policy from schools lately has been "zero tolerance" for violence, meaning if someone hits you and you defend yourself, you get suspended for just as long as they do. It's set up to let the school wash their hands of any responsibility, but without having to have an uncomfortable "Your kid is an asshole who keeps starting fights" / "My kid is a perfect angel and I'm suing you for suspending him" conversa…
> The official policy from schools lately has been "zero tolerance" for violence, meaning if someone hits you and you defend yourself, you get suspended for just as long as they do.
While I think most would agree that endorsing violence is generally bad, I'd advocate children defending themselves in that type of situation. It's not the only thing to do (someone needs to call an adult/teacher/etc) but if kids are penalized for coming to the aid of a fellow in need, what less are we teaching them? [1]
> It's set up to let the school wash their hands of any responsibility, but without having to have an uncomfortable "Your kid is an asshole who keeps starting fights" / "My kid is a perfect angel and I'm suing you for suspending him" conversation.
> It's not designed to solve the victim's problem, it's designed to make it not the school's problem.
Bingo. That's the issue with a lot of these so called solutions to social problems. They only solve the legal problems of the org where they're taking place.
[1]: Spoiler: The lesson is don't get involved in other people's problems.
Re: Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
#9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_system can prevent bullying in schools
Re: Anti-bullying program focused on bystanders helps students who need it most
#10"Many K-12 school efforts to reduce bullying have proven not very effective, leading educators to wonder what bullying prevention approach works best." Could that be because the efforts have focused on having students, mostly those not subject to bullying, stop the bullying? My view is that only teachers and administrators can stop it, and further that teachers and administrators have informal policies that actually…
The official policy from schools lately has been "zero tolerance" for violence, meaning if someone hits you and you defend yourself, you get suspended for just as long as they do. It's set up to let the school wash their hands of any responsibility, but without having to have an uncomfortable "Your kid is an asshole who keeps starting fights" / "My kid is a perfect angel and I'm suing you for suspending him" conversa…
Fear of accusations of bias (especially involving one of the nasty "-ism"s) and (legitimate!) fear of a tendency toward angry-mobbing people who make a bad decision, even if it's only bad in hindsight, drives a ton of society's behavior. See also: nutjob reports kids walking down the street as being in danger, entire security/child-welfare apparatus responds as if this is a legitimate complaint because if any one of them puts the brakes on it, even if nothing happens in this case they may later have their life ruined if something does, as it eventually will because statistics. ("tonight at 8:00—in the wake of [horrible incident], channel six investigative reporters uncover a pattern of ignoring complaints of children in risky situations on the part of the local police department")