Bullying and OST

Wed Nov 4 18:44:26 PST 2009

With 20/20 hindsight, I wonder if the question, "What do we need to do
to respect each other and get along?"  is/was the right question. 

As you say, Rose, it appears that students know (at a cognitive level)
what to do, but they don't do it. Which might point to a much deeper
psycho/systemic/social set of forces (part of which Harrison alludes
to). I really feel for these kids - it's feels like they are trapped in
a nightmare - like one of those dreams one can have, where you can see
it all unfolding and you feel incapable to do anything about it.  Of
course that is not an 'escape' from everyone ultimately accepting their
share of responsibility, but it suggests some broader questions to me
about what kind of personal 'way of being' might be nurtured, and what
kind of environment might  be imagined and co-created. I don't want to
sound trite. It sounds very challenging.  

What might that broader systemic convening question be?  When it
doubt...open more space. Think creatively about who might make a
contribution and specifically invite them. Was anyone and everyone able
to come? I am recalling Jamie Oliver's work in the UK where they
discovered a direct link between the food provided in the canteen and
behaviour in the classroom. That's another example of looking at the
whole system.  Don't give up hope. Keep the conversations alive.

Also, some places have benefitted from capacity building in non-violence
training (Rosenberg has done some great stuff on this).

Michael Wood

________________________________

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Harrison Owen
Sent: Thursday, 5 November 2009 10:19 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Bullying and OST

Rose - Sounds like and interesting Go. For me OS is very much like the
Rorschach Test - What you see is what you got, and it sounds like the
teachers and Principal confirmed that. Not terribly far from a prison
camp which is where many schools are. God forbid that the inmates should
become too restless and then get out of control! So of course, the
forces of reason and right will have to intervene (which they did) -
thereby substantiating their prior convictions that these "students"
were pretty much wild savages requiring a strong hand.  Was there an
alternative? Probably and it wouldn't have been pretty, but in my
experience it usually (always) works. Open more Space and treat the
students like responsible human beings. Expect the best and you might
get there. I have worked with fighting street gangs, and that was always
my approach. It did get a little exciting, but nobody ever died. In
fact, very useful things always took place. Simple fact of the matter is
that folks will live down to our expectations. That way they can avoid
responsibility for themselves and their actions. It is all OUR fault!
Then we can feel guilty and do more of what we have always done
(control, heavy hand, etc) and predictably get more of what we have
always gotten which then justifies more of the same - and so on ad
infinitum. Or something. 

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20854

Phone 301-365-2093

Skype hhowen

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
<http://www.openspaceworld.com/>  

Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
<http://www.openspaceworld.org/> 

Personal website www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com/>  

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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Rose
Tassone
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 6:51 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Bullying and OST

Hello everyone. I'm wishing to share my experience of facilitating OST
for the first time. It was held in a primary school in Perth, Western
Australia. Surveys administered by the principal earlier in the year had
parents and students report that they were most concerned about bullying
at this school. The principal identified the question "What do we need
to do to respect each other and get along?' 73 students, ages 8 to 12, 6
educators and 3 parents accepted the invitation.

This is what I observed during the OS event: A student was pushed out of
her group when she went to the breakout space even though she was the
one who had initiated the topic; students were physically fighting,
pushing each other and name calling; students who were being butterflies
chose to run around, disrupt and tease those in the groups even though
there was a drawing activity available to them; the groups tended to
compete with each other on how many pages they could fill with lists of
dos and don'ts of how to treat each other.  The energy of the morning
was one of palpable violence and two students were suspended.  Teachers
who had been briefed by the principal to allow chaos at the event, so
that children could self organise, finally had to intervene because of
duty of care issues.

Looking through the Book of Proceedings the students appear to have all
the knowledge of how to respect each other and get along, though their
behaviour during the event did not depict this. At the debriefing the
principal mentioned that the behaviours that were shown are what
normally occur every day in the schoolyard as they self organise around
individual survival.  So it appears that the proverbial 'Lucy' is more
than likely a 10 year old bully!

I would really appreciate any comments and/or thoughts.

Kindest regards

Rose Tassone

m:   (+61) 0408 944 072

e:    rosetassone at iinet.net.au

p:    po box 358 leederville wa 6903

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