Teambuilding: "The New Era to Stop Bullying in Schools"by Dan MalartsikAs I grew up through middle school years, it was now time to enter the place where no eighth grade graduate wanted to go on the first day of school, High School. My best friend at the time, who had a brother who was a senior, didn't even want to go to school. The first day of high school was the turning point in my life. After I saw what was going on with kids I had seen years ago at my middle school, I never wanted to be mean to anyone anymore. I heard the stories of what happened to them when they went to high school. Not only did I hear stories about what happened to bullies of the past, but I saw the people they grew into. It was terrible. Guys who were bullies presently and years ago were into drugs, alcohol, and trouble. I decided that I never wanted to be a bully or anything close to it. In middle school, I would tease children every now and then, but I was never the class bully or anything. Even with that, I chose to be a different person in high school and lost a lot of middle school friends because of it. During High School, I was the guy who didn't have too many enemies, nor did I have too many close friends. I was friendly with everyone. When my popular friends found out that I hung out with someone who wasn't so popular, they would get extemely upset and ignore me for a while. That didn't stop me from being friends with everyone though. Since I played golf and baseball in high school, there was a different level of people I hung out with from season to season. My friendships were always for short periods at a time. Not only was I friends with athletes, I was friendly with anyone I came in contact with at either a party, through a friend, or a classmate. I didn't care if they had no friends, or if they were the ugliest people in our class. I just wanted them to have someone to talk to. To be honest, half the time I didn't care what they had to say, but it made them happy! After I graduated high school, I realized I lost a lot of good friends, but I know I made a lot of people happy and that is all that counts to me! After reading articles given to me, I can see the "scars left by teasing" children and young adults. I think that kids are always looking to either be macho, or to make fellow classmates laugh. At young ages, you can always make your classmates laugh by teasing other kids in your class, or by scaring someone. I found that most of the kids who are bullies are kids who will get their own beating once they get older. Mostly everyone I knew who was a bully got beat up or threatened in high school at one point or another. I strongly believe that teasing and bullying are impacted from other kids. Teachers, parents, and schools from not only the United States but also from around the world should start out with disciplining offenders in a greater way. It is no one's fault but our own that we let the youth get away with things like this. I think what we are doing around School Districts is embarassing. Instead of taking action at the actual point in why we have school shootings, we have entered the "New Era". The "New Era" is what we are currently doing around big cities in the United States. We are making our schools look like prisons. Instead of addressing the issues of hate, teasing, and bullying, we are saying that we are going to stop kids from bringing guns to school. This is ridiculous. If a kid wants to kill someone, they can do it before or after school. I can only agree to some "New Era" policies for why they are put in place. When you look at the big picture, though, new era policies are not set in place to stop verbal abuse and bullying: they are there to stop what will happen as abuse continues. A great approach to stop this is by setting programs into place with teachers, programs such as Teambuilding. While participating in activities such as teambuilding, you gain a feeling of importance to your fellow classmates and to yourself. These are the types of approaches that are making sense when you read about them in articles like the ones we read in class. When I read about change in policies at school, I want to read about more discipline, more interaction with kids, and teambuilding, etc. In conclusion, I want to make clear that I have been in situations with kids that have been severe; some, to the point of suicide due to verbal abuse and bullying. It is not a situation I could ever wish upon any child or young adult. I am happy to say that my school, Northeastern Illinois University, "...has gained a reputation as one of the leading universities in the Midwest that promotes the teambuilding and challenge education process." After understanding this methodology and seeing it work first hand, there will never be a time in my life that I will not promote teambuilding as an activity for kids. -------------------- major at Northeastern Illinois University |