All too often we read or hear about tragic stories of kids being bullied at school to the point of drop out, depression, and even suicide. While bullying can affect almost anyone in any situation, the principles of private schools minimize it compared to public schools.
An Enforced Code Of Ethics
Your child’s safety and happiness is a top priority for you, and it should be a top priority for his learning environment as well. The world is a diverse place, and our institution is no different. Students here are encouraged to embrace cultural diversity and our code of morals is designed with this in mind.
As such, bullying prevention is something we are constantly aware of and actively working to enact. With our small class sizes (10-15), our staff is able to pick up on bullying behaivor that can go undetected in larger classes.
Bullying prevention is a community effort and one which must be embedded in the culture of an institution. In order for students to understand what behaviors are and are not acceptable, they must be instilled with a sense of morals and ethics which actively dissuades this behavior.
A student who knows from the gut that bullying is wrong because of her sense of the world will not then become a bully. An institution can help to develop this instinct with a clearly-stated strong code of morals.
Stopping Bullying Before It Starts
This code can serve as the backbone for ethical development within the community and help to guide student thinking away from behaviors that would be associated with bullying. Clearly-defined standards for acceptable behavior help to delineate what will not be tolerated and, more importantly, what sorts of behaviors set the high ethical standard that students should hold themselves (and each other) to.
Bullying is not a problem that can be solved penally. Negative reinforcement of the unacceptable behavior does not help to guide developing minds towards excellence. Building a safe and bully-free environment means establishing a culture of inclusion and respect. Again, a clearly stated code of morals is pivotal to this; with such a code written for all to see, it can be the responsibility of the community to hold each other to that code.
Teachers, students, and administrators can all be held to the same clearly-stated standards which sets a universal tone for transparency and the kind of respect that acts as bullying Kryptonite. With administrators and teachers modeling good behavior and a moral code codifying it in writing, students can more easily wrap their heads around what constitutes a proper way to act.
Kids Not Afraid To Go To School
A bully-free environment is a low-stress environment, and a happier environment for pupils. Creating a universal anti-bullying standard means laying the foundation for a school environment that is welcoming and productive; which in turns means creating a place where students are free to be their best selves, and where they are relaxed and happy to be on a daily basis.
Such an attitude promotes learning in the classroom as well as personal development outside of the classroom. A happy and healthy school environment with high moral standards means active and engaged pupils with a willingness to embrace diversity and minds tilted towards kindness rather than judgment.
