The Humanity Project

The Humanity Project was pleased to read a report about a major new study into bullying. We were pleased for a couple of reasons. The new scientific research points the way toward new solutions to stop this terrible, and worsening, social problem among youths. And the study also powerfully supports the approach taken by the Humanity Project in our innovative Anti-bullying Through The Arts program for elementary school children. Researchers at the University of California at Davis followed 3,722 kids over a full academic year. They found that bullying was linked to social status. That is, students become bullies in significant part to reinforce their standing among other students. UCLA psychologist Jaana Juvonen said this means anti-bullying programs should focus on reaching the non-bullying students. “It’s really critical for bystanders to speak up,” Juvonen says. We are gratified by this new science, but not surprised. That’s why the Humanity Project approach always has been about connecting with the hearts and minds of bystanders — to show them bullying isn’t cool so they, in turn, can show the same thing to their bullying peers. As we often point out, all of the Humanity Project’s programs are based on science. Empirical data show that our programs work. Thank you, University of California, for this important new support for our efforts.

Tags: anti-bullying, bullying, helping kids, Humanity Project, school bullying, stop bullying, teaching human values, The Humanity Project

This entry was posted by Bob Knotts on Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 at 11:12 am and is filed under Our Programs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.