Many schools in the northern hemisphere begin a new year tomorrow. Educators launch new goals with new groups of students. Students return with varying degrees of eagerness and trepidation. Before the first week is done, both educators and students are likely to witness bullying.
Bullying is an unrelenting problem in schools. It occurs at every age level, preschool through tertiary. It occurs every month of the school year. It occurs in both boys and girls.
Many treat bullying as a necessary evil, but it need not be that. There is a solution to the problem of bullying. That solution is character building. The character solution to a bullying problem is an enduring solution. Character building weeds out bullying more completely than most other possible solutions.
Character building must not be done in a half-hearted manner, however. If educators and parents truly want to remove bullying from their local schools and community, they will need to launch an all-out effort. They will need to pull out all of the stops!
They will need to begin with solid, lasting lessons on the meaning of character itself. They will need to give young people a clear, age-appropriate definition of the word “character”. They will need to help students understand the definition of “character” and memorize it. Of course, in order to do this, adults will need to be sure they have a clear, working definition of the word “character” and are modeling it in their own lives. You can never teach what you do not know. You can
Teachers and parents both will want to utilize character education classroom activities that reinforce the definition. For preschool and lower elementary grades, use non-threatening, enchanting stories such as Christopher Cat’s Character Club. Upper elementary students will hardly realize you are teaching character if you use an exciting book such as Mystery of Lake Cachuma. You can avoid teen radar when presenting character by using the teen novel Passport to Courage. It will let them learn from believable teenagers while being intrigued by the action and adventure. For mature teens, delve directly into a how-to book such as Character.
Parents and teachers can use lesson plans with these books. It doesn’t matter whether you are teaching one child or 100 children. Lesson plans are a good way to get the full benefit of any material. When lesson plans are available for a book, you should always consider getting and using them. With a subject such as character, they can save a great deal of time and make your teaching time more effective.
But suppose you have books and lesson plans. What do you do with them? How do you use them to solve the problem of bullying?
First, I believe you should avoid introducing character as a solution to bullying. You know it is, but your work will be more efficacious if you keep the knowledge to yourself. Instead, introduce character study as something that will take priority in your time with your children or young people. State, and show, that character is more important than other things you will study together. Urge them to excel in it, and give them reason to do so. Motivate them. Immerse your children and teenagers in character. Fill their lives with it. Provide visual representations of character. Provide reading opportunities to observe character. Provide activities, discussions, and even tests.
Spend adequate time preparing to teach character – and then spend more time than you think is adequate. Remember, this is your solution to bullying. It is, too, a solution to many of the problems encountered when working with children and teenagers. Make sure that every child for whom you bear any responsibility learns the meaning of character so well that, if you were to awaken that young person at 3 AM and ask for the definition of “character”, he or she could give it to you perfectly before drifting back to sleep.
In the next few entries of this blog, I’d like to discuss specific ways to teach character so that you will realize its full benefits – especially in conquering bullying.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?