Bully Prevention is receiving a lot of attention this month and that is a very good thing. Lots of websites, articles, TV shows and experts have voiced their ideas, opinions and suggestions for bully prevention and these are really good things.
I was a guest on a radio show with Larry Jacobs where we discussed alarming trends with bullying and the critical need for schools, families and communities to improve bully prevention results sooner than later. To listen to the live interview, click here.
When it comes to achieving better results, one of my favorite quotes comes from Benjamin Franklin:
“Well done is always better than well said.”
And while Benjamin Franklin was not referring to bullying when he made this comment, I believe bully prevention is possible if schools can achieve “well said” AND “well done”.
Overall, schools have been doing a decent job with “well said”, however based on alarming trends, surveys and incidents schools are clearly struggling with achieving “well done”. When we continue to see student suicides, 3 million students skipping school every month because they don’t feel safe at school and student surveys that rank bullying as their number 1 safety concern…then “well done” is not working and “well said” is obviously not enough.
Anderson Cooper seems to agree according to his comment about students on his ‘Bullying: It Stops Here’ town hall meeting:
“We owe them more than talk”.
I also agree that we owe students more than talk, but the best that traditional ‘solutions’ like laws, policies, bullying programs, school assemblies and informational websites can deliver is “well said”.
Did you see what Jamey Rodemeyer wrote on his webpage just before he took his life?
“I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. What do I have to do so that people will listen to me?’’
His comments should be a lesson to everyone that immediate changes are needed. Traditional “well said” solutions AND innovative “well done” solutions are needed to achieve better results with bullying prevention and preventing the consequences of bullying.
To share a demonstration of “well said” bullying prevention and intervention solutions with your school leaders, click here.
