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Buddhism Could Stop Bullying In Schools
AllbuddhaBound
Veteran
What is the answer? Schools continually look for the solution while they unconsciously sew the seeds of this problem. Identifying some of the kids as losers seems to be quite acceptable in school settings. Schools often identify certain kids as unacceptable, they fail to protect them, and even more often, they fail to honor them.
The environment in schools is a very daunting and intimidating place to be for many kids. Just not fitting in may well set a person up for years of suffering. From the nerd who dresses differently, to the flamboyant gay kid,to the social misfit who doesn't get the rules they are all separated out for special treatment.
Schools throw their hands up in exasperation. They don't know how to solve the problem. Part of the problem stems from the fact that it is not okay to lose or make mistakes. Children are not allowed to fail. Failure will not be tolerated. When you operate in an environment where failure is considered as unacceptable it is little wonder these children don't tolerate it either.
When schools make self-esteem as some sort of God, they believe they need to eliminate failure in order to enhance it. The kids know this. They take this philosophy and morph it into ridicule. It is not too hard to figure out how loser becomes a buzzword.
The most popular attitude about religion in schools is that they don't belong there. It is a pity. Buddhist beliefs would benefit the schools immensely. Tolerance, patience, and kindness would solve the problems. Too bad the politically correct are diametrically opposed to these tenets.
The environment in schools is a very daunting and intimidating place to be for many kids. Just not fitting in may well set a person up for years of suffering. From the nerd who dresses differently, to the flamboyant gay kid,to the social misfit who doesn't get the rules they are all separated out for special treatment.
Schools throw their hands up in exasperation. They don't know how to solve the problem. Part of the problem stems from the fact that it is not okay to lose or make mistakes. Children are not allowed to fail. Failure will not be tolerated. When you operate in an environment where failure is considered as unacceptable it is little wonder these children don't tolerate it either.
When schools make self-esteem as some sort of God, they believe they need to eliminate failure in order to enhance it. The kids know this. They take this philosophy and morph it into ridicule. It is not too hard to figure out how loser becomes a buzzword.
The most popular attitude about religion in schools is that they don't belong there. It is a pity. Buddhist beliefs would benefit the schools immensely. Tolerance, patience, and kindness would solve the problems. Too bad the politically correct are diametrically opposed to these tenets.
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Comments
I agree with a lot of what you say, especially the self-esteem bit.
As for a 'solution', I don't think there is one. That's just what kids do. If anyone tried preaching 'tolerance, patience and kindness' to us at school, I know that it would do absolutely nothing. If those values were instilled in a kid by the parents, then that kid would be the one bullied.
Buddhist beliefs can't just be taught, an individual needs to see value in them through experience and must want to take the teachings in. Kids just don't have that experience and the ethics are not at that stage of development. It just sounds like lame idealistic hippie nonsense otherwise.
There's no way Buddhism would help in any way in a western school. That's regarding bullying anyway... it would be great if it was an option when I went to school... instead of sitting through christian religious education (when I was an atheist) I could've been learning about Buddhism.
Buddhist thought that was force fed would be resisted. But Buddhist thought (or Christian or Muslim for that matter) that was the foundation for establishing the school experience, would become a school where intolerance would not be the norm as it is now. Schools that value kindness over winning is what I am suggesting.
Still, the currents school culture extends beyond the school yard. Zimbardo (the guy who did the Stanford prison experiments) has shown how people fill the role they are assigned. Role models for kids come from many places... TV being an important one.
It could work though, 'roles' tend to shift from environment to environment. When people put on a business suit and go into a corporate office they make decisions they would never make under different circumstances. People act differently in all kinds of situations. I can see how a well designed culture at a school and an appropriate hiring practice can make bullying unacceptable.
Still, conformity wins in the end. Things can always go downhill.
I'd like to see it tried. When I am a millionaire, I'll give it a go.