Two Ways That Empathy Helps In Schools

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There is one place that serves as a storehouse of information on all things empathy, THE CENTER FOR BUILDING A CULTURE OF EMPATHY. As it says on their website, this "site contains the largest collection of articles, conferences, definitions, experts, history, interviews, organizations, videos, science, and much more about empathy and compassion."

Let's check out some of the recent news on this topic in the world of education. Finland has a very good program in its school for teaching students how to stop bullying. The program focuses on bystanders. Utilizing games, students get to practice how to be nice to someone, say nice things to someone who wants to be part of the group, for instance. Students also get to role play other situations that they commonly encounter. Other students give feedback on the behaviors that were tried and offer their own advice about how they would handle the situation. Interestingly, studies have showed that this program is working, since the program decreases the odds of a student being bullied by about one-third.



Many may recall how the issues of school suspensions and expulsions have been discussed around this country, with various tactics being tried in school districts. Stanford did some research that showed that when empathy tops punishment, school discipline increases. When middle school teachers became more empathetic toward students, the number of students who were suspended during the entire school year dropped by half.

The researchers noted that a crucial part of teaching was developing positive relationships with students. But many schools have developed a zero tolerance policy toward certain types of student behavior. When that is the prevailing philosophy at the school, teachers automatically revert to a default punitive mindset, undermining their positive relationships with students.

Teaching bystanders to speak up can help reduce school bullying.

One of the researchers, whose last name is Walton, commented, "It is heartbreaking. Teachers are caught between two models, a punitive model that says you have to punish kids to get them to behave and an older model that goes to the heart of the profession, which says that teaching is all about building strong relationships with children, especially when they struggle." And those of us in the mental health field frequently pick up the pieces of the children who have been shattered by too much negative discipline. And to know that that type of discipline is all for naught, since it is quite ineffective in establishing newer patterns of behavior, is the ultimate betrayal of our children.

Becoming more empathetic helps teachers reach out and help struggling students.

Thanks for information from two articles, one by James Gaines, and the other by Grace Smith, in this newsletter: http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=83b412dd95de60e7b42e0b42e&id=abfe54eced; and the above link.

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