askchapo

In Maoist China, students would call each other counter revolutionaries and ostracize them

In Vietnam, students would be disciplined physically, then some students would jump the teacher after school

Alternatively, you can have a culture similarly to Japan where being rude is probably the greatest sin. However, it’s a double edged sword because someone can abuse you and you would be too scared to speak up because rocking the boat is considered rude.

So I propose a mix of everything. A culture of respect where people get ostracized for abusing others, and allowing kids to duke it out among themselves. Getting beaten by an adult for misbehaving doesn’t make any sense. But another child going at you because you keep harassing them (in conjunction with more formal intervention)? I would say there’s more purpose and opportunity for growth there.

Another thing my elementary school did: the principal forced the boys in our class to hang out with the most hated kid lol. The results were terrible because it didn’t address any of the problems we had. Now I’m no social scientist so I can’t exactly articulate why this may be good, but it seems worth investigating. Cliques are also huge in school. Not all of them are bad, but maybe look into that.

But then you have your Klebolds and Harrises and Dahmers: people who not only bully others - or in the case of Dahmer, be very weird - but also at risk at committing catastrophic incidents. How would you intervene here? How would you tell the difference between them and band kid humor? And in some cases, the band kid becomes the murderer.