So most of the comments here are talking about the role of adults and society when it comes to encouraging certain behaviors. But I think that another important piece is the lack of autonomy that kids have and the lack of interaction across age groups. I think that kids need more boundaries set by people who aren't authority figures, like those who are parents, 15+ years older than them, teachers, ect. I think that if kids spent more time with each other in groups that they form themselves without input from authority figures and those groups are comprised of wide age groups kids will understand what acceptable behavior is much more.
I remember an article posted here a while back about how different kids upbringings are in remote mayan societies. The kids spent time in packs with kids of different ages and they created informal boundries based on observing each other rather than directly from an authority. I don't know how to replicate this exactly within our current school system but I do remember how much less bullying there was in the summer camps I was in.
I don't have any airtight examples on how to implement this but one idea would be to have older kids come in to help teach classes that they took the previous year. Or maybe having art or PE classes with different groups than you have your homeroom classes with.
So most of the comments here are talking about the role of adults and society when it comes to encouraging certain behaviors. But I think that another important piece is the lack of autonomy that kids have and the lack of interaction across age groups. I think that kids need more boundaries set by people who aren't authority figures, like those who are parents, 15+ years older than them, teachers, ect. I think that if kids spent more time with each other in groups that they form themselves without input from authority figures and those groups are comprised of wide age groups kids will understand what acceptable behavior is much more.
I remember an article posted here a while back about how different kids upbringings are in remote mayan societies. The kids spent time in packs with kids of different ages and they created informal boundries based on observing each other rather than directly from an authority. I don't know how to replicate this exactly within our current school system but I do remember how much less bullying there was in the summer camps I was in.
I don't have any airtight examples on how to implement this but one idea would be to have older kids come in to help teach classes that they took the previous year. Or maybe having art or PE classes with different groups than you have your homeroom classes with.