The End of Schoolyard Violence
Mitigate Schoolyard Violence With a New Cerebral Elegance
Sep 25, 2009
The violence in schools has become an issue of concern to parents, teachers and employers. What is needed is a new education policy that enables learners to be more discerning of and resistant to the negative influences that move them to violence. One such solution would be to teach learners a cerebral elegance that enables and builds discernment.
A new educational policy will take learners to this cerebral elegance. The policy must induce a consciousness and habit of cerebral discernment in every learner, enabling the learner to screen and modulate destructive input from the dramas of parents, teachers and the media – a kind of sensory firewall.
No mechanical access screening device or police presence, infrastructure or organizational intervention can cause a reduction in the incidence of schoolyard violence or a new wave of educational excellence in schools. What is required is a new cerebral elegance in appreciation and sense-control.
The policy must give full credence to optimism, goodwill, compassion, gratitude and tolerance and erase ill will, deceit, arrogance and the attraction of sensual gratification. No child must be the victim of ignorance about the power of the senses and sensations.
Building Discernment and Sense-Control In Learners
Learners must have the cerebral ability and agility to sense and deactivate threats and situations of repulsive violence between individuals, gangs and camps. Kids must be programmed neurologically to take on and neutralize schoolyard violence.
They must be taught to control their senses in order to filter input and select the good from the bad. They must be familiarized with the mental and emotional plasticity and vulnerability of the mind and how thought, gestures, looks, speech, games, music and experiences shape emotions, thoughts and passion.
This doctrine, once acquired by learners, will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives and in the world of employment. Something the corporate sector had been seeking with adult training in emotional intelligence.
Building Discernment and Sense-Control in the Family
Inculcating an acceptance for a habit of discernment and sense-control in the adult members of families will be challenging. Only responsible leadership from authoritative sources will swing it in the right direction.
Mothers and fathers assume differing nurturing roles in the family based on their traditions and upbringing. The role of the father as nurturer is typically to communicate a compelling achievement vision for the family and for each child and persuade them to do chores and to respect, pursue and celebrate their real world achievements.
The role of the mother as nurturer is to instill a deep sense of love for family, life, spirituality, kindness, decency, nourishment, pets, knowledge, music and nature.
Both mother and father have to be attuned to appreciation and sense-control for it to resonate in the family and with the kids. Responsible leadership and influence from community structures need to drive this.
Building Discernment and Sense-Control in School Structures
Inculcating an acceptance for a policy of discernment and sense-control in school organizations will also be challenging. Responsible leadership will also be the best medium for instilling a doctrine of appreciation and sense-control.
The role of the teacher as nurturer is to transfer the life enabling skills of reading, writing, creating, counting and achievement in a culture of engagement, to communicate a compelling vision of educational excellence for the school and for each learner and to seek, promote, cultivate and respect individual virtue and genius.
Learner engagement is achieved by focusing on the developmental and engagement needs of students. Teachers can help learners by concentrating on learner involvement and engagement in a developmentally appropriate fashion, while providing a sense of meaning and coherence in their lives.
According to Ben Miles of National University, successful teachers focus on the four A’s of Attachment (positive social bonds are a prerequisite to pro-social behavior); Achievement (setting high expectations means refusing to accept failure); Autonomy (true discipline lies in demanding responsibility, not obedience) and Altruism (through helping others young people find proof of their own self-worth). [1]
The Role of the Business Community in Building Discernment and Self-Control in School Structures
According to a corporate resource quoted in the 2009 talent research report by global consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, workforces are shrinking in terms of people who have the right skills and competencies in science, technology, engineering, and maths – as well as in leadership and management. [2]
Workforce shrinkage and the declining demand for skills could have been caused by the ruthless self-interest of the business sector and an obsession with optimization of resources and maximization of growth and profits.
Many executives responsible for human resources have recently made it their objective to really get in front of the shrinking workforce, according to the report. A human resources director of Ford Motor Company, one of the companies participating in the Deloitte research, said they have begun to work more aggressively with the pipeline, with kids as far back as elementary school.
Socially responsible organizations will provide leverage in the quest to end schoolyard violence. Sponsoring training in sense-control must be at the forefront of their efforts.
1. "Schoolyard Violence: Roots And Remediations," Ben Miles, National University.
2. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. "Talent - Threading The Talent Needle - What global executives are saying about people and work." 2009.
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