A Publication of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
April 2011, Volume 5, Issue 3
You've Got to be Taught: Conflict Resolution Education in Washington D.C. Schools
By:
Marsha Blakeway
Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote a heart-wrenching song for their musical South Pacific in 1949 with lyrics such as these: “You’ve got to be taught To hate and fear; Before you are six or seven or eight, To hate all the people your relatives hate”. What we really should be doing, of course, is to carefully teach children to love and care about others and to treat everyone with dignity and respect. Rodgers and Hammerstein were right on about the age framework. Early childhood – up to about age eight – is when we learn most of our patterns of behavior especially those behaviors that have to do with relationships, and, indeed, we learn most of those patterns from our relatives. Fortunately, learning occurs throughout the human lifespan and, no matter what we learned as children, we can all learn to treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves.
Conflict resolution (CR) educators have taken on the task of teaching children and young people to care about each other, to treat others respectfully, to be able to work together and communicate in nonviolent, productive ways to resolve the everyday conflicts that occur in their lives. The role that conflict plays at each developmental stage from early childhood through adolescence into adulthood influences how and what we learn about ourselves and others – children’s conflicts play a key role in cognitive and identity development.
"If we wish to create a lasting peace we must begin with the children.” -
Mahatma Gandhi
Beginning with the very young children, programs such as High Scope, a respected early childhood organization, teaches adults conflict resolution and problem-solving skills they can model for toddlers and preschoolers. There are many excellent nonviolent CR education programs – some begun in the 1970’s - in schools across the country that are making a difference in the lives of children and the adults who live and work with them. Tom Roderick, a long-time CR educator, along with others at the Morningside Center in New York City (NYC), has developed a new conflict resolution and literacy curriculum for grades K-5: The Four Rs Program: Reading, Writing, Respect, and Resolution. Building on their very successful Resolving Conflicts Creatively Program, the curriculum was implemented and studied in third and fourth grade classrooms over two years in eighteen public NYC inner-city elementary schools. This important study looks at the school-based prevention of social-emotional, behavioral, and academic problems that hinder children from being successful in school and in life. The next issue of Child Development will include a report of the research done on this program by a well-respected team from Harvard University, Fordham University and New York University.
Here is why this is such an important study: The 4Rs Program curriculum is considered a “developmental intervention” in that it seeks to intervene in children’s lives to change the underlying social-cognitive processes that can lead to aggressive behavior. This research looks not only at correlations between the intervention and the outcome, but also at the causal mechanisms that influence behavior today and behavior in the future. Children who are exposed to harsh treatment in their homes, or to community violence, or to a violent peer environment, have an increased probability of committing aggression and violence now and in the future. Intervening in a child’s “developmental trajectory” toward violence by teaching positive social and emotional skills (like conflict resolution) and academic skills (like reading) simultaneously is shown in this study and others to reduce the effects of exposure to violence, to reduce the likelihood of future aggressive behavior and to increase the chances of academic success.
“One thing I like about being a peer mediator is that I get to help students solve their problems and I feel really good about that.” Fifth grade student, Brooklyn, NY
In the mid 1980’s there was a groundswell of activity starting mediation programs in public schools across the country based on the idea that if students learn to mediate, and participate in mediation, they will be able to use those skills for the rest of their lives. They will also be empowered to make decisions about their own lives. Community Boards in San Francisco and other community mediation centers began providing training for groups of about twenty students in elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S. to become peer mediators and training educators to set up and run peer mediation programs. ICAR Advisory Board Member, Ambassador John McDonald, then at the Iowa Peace Institute, created an early state-wide peer mediation program that trained educators in mediation so they could create programs in their own schools.
Twenty-five years later, peer mediation programs are in tens of thousands of elementary and secondary schools across the United States and around the world. In spite of the broad success of peer mediation program, the stability and sustainability those mediation programs is still an issue. Often a program is coordinated by one dedicated individual in the school and if that person leaves, the program may end. chool-based programs with support from system-level central office staff devoted to conflict resolution and peer mediation, such as Fairfax County Public Schools, are more likely to succeed. State level support for school programs, such as the program coordinated by the Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of Maryland School of Law funded by the Maryland Association of Conflict Resolution Organizations (MACRO) also enhances sustainability. Acknowledging the importance to sustainability of having well run programs and well-trained students, the Education Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution, created Recommended Standards for School-Based Peer Mediation Programs in 1996 and updated the Standards in 2007.
CR educators work in four main ways in schools: teaching negotiation, mediation or other CR processes; establishing peer mediation programs; infusing CR concepts and skills into subject curriculum; using CR techniques to better manage classrooms. Schools that have begun with peer mediation programs often expand them to include diversity and anti-bias education; anti-bullying – including anti-cyberbullying programs; gender, relationships, and dating violence prevention; restorative justice programs for juvenile crime or other disciplinary issues; classes for parents on family conflict resolution strategies. Many CR educators also incorporate concepts of peace education related to social justice and equity, nonviolence, human rights, environmental and global issues.
New in the last few years is the project begun by Dr. Tricia Jones at Temple University and others to incorporate CR Education in Teacher Education (CRE/TE) to help new teachers constructively manage conflict, create positive learning environments, and develop students’ conflict competence and social skills. CRE/TE is now partnering with over twenty five colleges of education to infuse CR Education and Social Emotional Learning in teacher education curriculum and professional development programs. Dr. Bill Warters at Wayne State University created a great new web resource in conjunction with the CRE/TE: CReducation.org. The site provides a wide-array of resources in broad categories for researchers, teachers and trainers, policy-makers and administrators, and international programs.
ICAR has had a consistent role in K-12 CR education as a co-sponsor of the Fairfax County Public Schools Peer Mediation Conference for the past nineteen years. Many thousands of young people, supported by hundreds of educators and area mediators, from elementary and secondary schools have attended the workshops at the conferences to improve their practice of mediation. In addition, for more than ten years, Frank Blechman, former ICAR faculty, and other faculty members worked with the Youth Intergroup Conflict Applied Practice & Theory classes on projects that looked at gang-related conflict issues, inter-ethnic school and community conflict issues, peer mediation programming statewide, and other topics. The current Conflict Resolution Education APT continues and is building on this work.
Carefully Taught
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
“Carefully Taught” is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific
Conflict resolution (CR) educators have taken on the task of teaching children and young people to care about each other, to treat others respectfully, to be able to work together and communicate in nonviolent, productive ways to resolve the everyday conflicts that occur in their lives. The role that conflict plays at each developmental stage from early childhood through adolescence into adulthood influences how and what we learn about ourselves and others – children’s conflicts play a key role in cognitive and identity development.
"If we wish to create a lasting peace we must begin with the children.” -Mahatma Gandhi
Beginning with the very young children, programs such as High Scope, a respected early childhood organization, teaches adults conflict resolution and problem-solving skills they can model for toddlers and preschoolers. There are many excellent nonviolent CR education programs – some begun in the 1970’s - in schools across the country that are making a difference in the lives of children and the adults who live and work with them. Tom Roderick, a long-time CR educator, along with others at the Morningside Center in New York City (NYC), has developed a new conflict resolution and literacy curriculum for grades K-5: The Four Rs Program: Reading, Writing, Respect, and Resolution. Building on their very successful Resolving Conflicts Creatively Program, the curriculum was implemented and studied in third and fourth grade classrooms over two years in eighteen public NYC inner-city elementary schools. This important study looks at the school-based prevention of social-emotional, behavioral, and academic problems that hinder children from being successful in school and in life. The next issue of Child Development will include a report of the research done on this program by a well-respected team from Harvard University, Fordham University and New York University.
Here is why this is such an important study: The 4Rs Program curriculum is considered a “developmental intervention” in that it seeks to intervene in children’s lives to change the underlying social-cognitive processes that can lead to aggressive behavior. This research looks not only at correlations between the intervention and the outcome, but also at the causal mechanisms that influence behavior today and behavior in the future. Children who are exposed to harsh treatment in their homes, or to community violence, or to a violent peer environment, have an increased probability of committing aggression and violence now and in the future. Intervening in a child’s “developmental trajectory” toward violence by teaching positive social and emotional skills (like conflict resolution) and academic skills (like reading) simultaneously is shown in this study and others to reduce the effects of exposure to violence, to reduce the likelihood of future aggressive behavior and to increase the chances of academic success.
“One thing I like about being a peer mediator is that I get to help students solve their problems and I feel really good about that.” Fifth grade student, Brooklyn, NY
In the mid 1980’s there was a groundswell of activity starting mediation programs in public schools across the country based on the idea that if students learn to mediate, and participate in mediation, they will be able to use those skills for the rest of their lives. They will also be empowered to make decisions about their own lives. Community Boards in San Francisco and other community mediation centers began providing training for groups of about twenty students in elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S. to become peer mediators and training educators to set up and run peer mediation programs. ICAR Advisory Board Member, Ambassador John McDonald, then at the Iowa Peace Institute, created an early state-wide peer mediation program that trained educators in mediation so they could create programs in their own schools.
Twenty-five years later, peer mediation programs are in tens of thousands of elementary and secondary schools across the United States and around the world. In spite of the broad success of peer mediation program, the stability and sustainability those mediation programs is still an issue. Often a program is coordinated by one dedicated individual in the school and if that person leaves, the program may end. chool-based programs with support from system-level central office staff devoted to conflict resolution and peer mediation, such as Fairfax County Public Schools, are more likely to succeed. State level support for school programs, such as the program coordinated by the Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of Maryland School of Law funded by the Maryland Association of Conflict Resolution Organizations (MACRO) also enhances sustainability. Acknowledging the importance to sustainability of having well run programs and well-trained students, the Education Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution, created Recommended Standards for School-Based Peer Mediation Programs in 1996 and updated the Standards in 2007.
CR educators work in four main ways in schools: teaching negotiation, mediation or other CR processes; establishing peer mediation programs; infusing CR concepts and skills into subject curriculum; using CR techniques to better manage classrooms. Schools that have begun with peer mediation programs often expand them to include diversity and anti-bias education; anti-bullying – including anti-cyberbullying programs; gender, relationships, and dating violence prevention; restorative justice programs for juvenile crime or other disciplinary issues; classes for parents on family conflict resolution strategies. Many CR educators also incorporate concepts of peace education related to social justice and equity, nonviolence, human rights, environmental and global issues.
New in the last few years is the project begun by Dr. Tricia Jones at Temple University and others to incorporate CR Education in Teacher Education (CRE/TE) to help new teachers constructively manage conflict, create positive learning environments, and develop students’ conflict competence and social skills. CRE/TE is now partnering with over twenty five colleges of education to infuse CR Education and Social Emotional Learning in teacher education curriculum and professional development programs. Dr. Bill Warters at Wayne State University created a great new web resource in conjunction with the CRE/TE: CReducation.org. The site provides a wide-array of resources in broad categories for researchers, teachers and trainers, policy-makers and administrators, and international programs.
ICAR has had a consistent role in K-12 CR education as a co-sponsor of the Fairfax County Public Schools Peer Mediation Conference for the past nineteen years. Many thousands of young people, supported by hundreds of educators and area mediators, from elementary and secondary schools have attended the workshops at the conferences to improve their practice of mediation. In addition, for more than ten years, Frank Blechman, former ICAR faculty, and other faculty members worked with the Youth Intergroup Conflict Applied Practice & Theory classes on projects that looked at gang-related conflict issues, inter-ethnic school and community conflict issues, peer mediation programming statewide, and other topics. The current Conflict Resolution Education APT continues and is building on this work.
Carefully Taught
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
“Carefully Taught” is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific