The Ethical Fitness Subcommittee from the Gratz YDSLC Hometeam has recently been asked to address an arising “bully” problem in the third, fourth and fifth grades at Taggart Elementary School.  We believe that studetns who bully other children lack self-esteem, positive role models and security.  Therefore, a group of five Gratz students has decided to tackle the issue by working one-on-one with Taggart students, who have been identified by their teachers as bullies, using lessons from the Institute of Global Ethics.  We plan to give the elementary students the tools they need to make good decisions in their day-to-day routines, as well as the means to teach others the same lessons.  “We want to empower them by turning them into leaders and teachers of Ethical Fitness.  They’ll start to take pride in what they are doing and feel good about the choices they make.  I really think that if we help them make these steps, then they’ll start helping other kids instead of picking on them,” says Shenika Anderson, Subcommittee Chair.  

Since there was no anti-bullying program in place, the Ethical Fitness Subcommittee has had the responsibility of designing the project, for which Taggart will be the testing ground.   Our first steps have been to utilize children’s books as a tool for Ethical Fitness and Leadership Training.  The Gratz/Taggart pairs will create literacy tutorials that the Taggart students will use to help first and second graders learn to read the books.  The next step of the process is to create ethics lessons geared towards elementary students.  We will hold leadership and ethical fitness sessions with the Taggart students, including ethical fitness training and team building/problem solving activities.

In the final stage of the project, we will send the elementary students back into their classes as experts in Ethical Fitness, where they will become leaders and trainers of positive messages and decision making.  As the cycle begins to replicate itself, we will have helped to instill positive values, pride and self respect in the Taggart students.  These, we believe, are the first steps toward eradicating the “bully” mentality in our schools.   Gratz senior and Subcommittee member, Iaeisha Palmer, says, “We have been really lucky to get these lessons early on in life.  I feel bad for some of the Taggart kids, maybe they are miserable at home and that’s why they started acting out.  After our time at Taggart, we want to keep in touch with our mentees.  We want them to know that someone will always be there for them.  I don’t think they’re really bad kids, it’s just that maybe no one has ever really listened before.”