These are the facts: Almost all children are harassed in school, and almost all children harass others in school. These truths, stated Charol Shakeshaft, make the following statement also true: Educators have to go "well beyond" the minimum legal standard to stop sexual, racial, and religious harassment and to stop students from being "just plain mean." Meeting the minimum legal standard just doesn't do enough to protect children from hurtful behavior, she asserted.
Shakeshaft, a Hofstra University (N.Y.) professor, has studied peer harassment in schools for more than 10 years. Harassment, she has found, "comes in lots of styles," and much of the physical, visual, and verbal forms of such behavior—a constant for students—goes unreported. "We cannot rely on children to stop harassment—it's not their job," Shakeshaft stated. Students, she said, really want teachers to stop such behavior.
- Identify and record harassment. Conduct student surveys, Shakeshaft suggested, and post the results.
- Ask students and teachers to reflect on how harassment makes them feel.
- Help students and teachers describe a preferred treatment. According to Shakeshaft, many children don't believe that a harassment-free school can exist. Educators, she stated, "must help students visualize an alternative reality."
- Set rules and policies. Schools must be specific about the behaviors that are not allowed and should attach consequences to undesirable behavior.
Above all, Shakeshaft urged, be consistent—even when consistency is difficult. "It's very wearing to do intervention constantly," she conceded. Still, "teachers have got to be vigilant" if they want to end peer harassment and create caring and respectful learning communities.