In class last Wednesday, Dr. Glassman posed the question asking why focus so much on preventing bullying in elementary school and why these programs don't continue to high school. In this article this particular school system has began a system-wide anti-bullying program for students of all ages (http://www.stategazette.com/story/2018406.html). It goes to discuss the specific program they have decided to use which is OLWEUS, a program being used in The United States, Canada, and Norway.
At the beginning of this article it mentions that until the age of technology bullying mainly occurred on the playground and was something that kids "grew out of." This made me start thinking about Dr. Glassman's question on why we focus so much on elementary school children. I think the answer is quite simple, educators are trying to teach them at a young age that bullying is not okay. I agree with starting bullying awareness and prevention in elementary school but I think many schools forget that anti-bullying steps need to be taken regardless of the age of the students. If the elementary programs are vigorous and informative, then middle school and high school students can just be given refresher courses and reminders. Bullying prevention needs to occur throughout the duration of a students education.
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