Uniting adolescent support systems for safe learning environments

RESPONDING TO BULLYING

From the faculty point of view, SCORE and PASS methods raise to prominence social and emotional issues known to interfere with academic achievement. Such issues are not presently addressed in periodic report cards, though they have much to do with personal success throughout life. Parents should be informed quickly about student misbehavior, because such conduct places student progress in jeopardy and disrupts the opportunity for classmates to learn. SCORE and PASS acknowledge the vital role of family cooperation in addressing misconduct. Information sharing among teachers, counselors, and administrators about students' social conduct has been meager. When faculty members can easily access data to learn how their own students are observed by colleagues in other classes, patterns of dysfunction can be detected early, and teachers can respond in a unified way that includes monitoring interventions for effect.

When students reach middle school, the desire to be seen as independent and capable of managing their own affairs often conflicts with a need to seek help for peer abuse. Some adolescents believe that for them to continue asking teachers and parents to intervene on their behalf is childish. On the contrary, educators and relatives should assure students that their expression of fear does not detract from self-- reliance, identify them as cowards, or cause their supporters to be ashamed of them. In fact, when they become adults, they will be expected to follow rules and realize that reporting abuse is the right thing to do so that it can be eliminated. As adults, they will realize that friendship means giving support to peers in their lawful behavior but not standing idly by when peers break the rules or intimidate others. In fiction, Harry Potter possesses magical powers that he uses to silence bullies. In real life, however, students do not have such magic at their disposal. Caring adults and concerned peers are all they can count on to protect them. By uniting support systems of adolescents, the schools they attend can become safer and more appealing places.

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