The No Place for Hate training in the Benjamin school is a big tradition and the first big event in the school year. Mr. Hagy, the head of the middle school, has stressed the importance of this year’s training, by making a committee of parents and children in the middle school. Cyberbullying is a type of bullying outside of schools and online where most of the bullying happens. The definition of cyberbullying, from Merriam Webster Dictionary, is the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person (such as a student) often done anonymously online.
The sixth graders, seventh graders, and eighth graders all took part in the training from Monday to Wednesday.
On Monday the sixth graders took part in exploring the bullying roles they play and the choices they make in the act. This is the first step in the Benjamin middle school training for preventing the spread of hate in the school. The first step of hateful actions, is making the person stand out and say the wrong things about them.“I think it is important because I do see a lot disrespect between students, unkindness, jokes that are sometimes are not funny, so I think we need to be a more mindful interaction culture in the middle school, and I think the No Place training will try to help the students understand it more even at home,” said Mr. Crisafi, Dean of students.
On Tuesday, the seventh graders took part in the second part of the training. They worked on cyberbullying and safety online. Cyberbullying is a way of bullying that does not happen in school but happens online, and learning about cyberbullying early will help prevent children from being bullied, like regular hate. Another topic they spoke about was being an upstander, or standing up for the safety of another person who is being attacked.“ I think it made students aware of their daily life outside of school,” said math teacher Mrs. Hansen.
Grade 8 students added to their experience of the past two years of training with learning about being an ally to the target. Learning about being an ally is crucial because in situations where someone is a target, it can be hard to stick up for others. Taking action against a bully is difficult because students often become a new target. This rounded out the ADL training for the Benjamin School’s No Place for Hate. “Each of these workshops [are] centered around our curricular theme of this year, Impact,” said head of the middle school, Mr. Hagy.
