NCJ Number
107534
Journal
Negotiation Journal Volume: 2 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1986) Pages: 287-297
Date Published
1986
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The growth of efforts to teach dispute settlement techniques to students in elementary and secondary schools illustrate some of the opportunities presented to transform society's attitudes toward conflict through early education.
Abstract
Peace activists undertook isolated efforts to establish training programs in conflict resolution during the 1960's and 1970's. Efforts became broader in the 1980's with the 1981 formation of a national group, Educators for Social Responsibility. In 1984, the National Association for Mediation in Education (NAME) was formed. Two examples of successful school programs are School Mediators' Alternative Resolution Team (SMART) in Suffolk County, N.Y., and the Conflict Managers Program in San Francisco. These programs have trained large numbers of students to mediate disputes and are credited with major improvements in school atmosphere. A central element of these and other effective programs is collaboration between a community mediation center and a school or school system. NAME has facilitated the sharing of information about programs. The school-based programs have many common objectives, including promoting a view of conflict as a positive force, recognizing young people's unique competence in resolving their own disputes, and offering a more effective approach than suspension and other techniques. These programs emphasize the benefits of collaboration in contrast to the costs of combativeness. They must deal with many challenges, however, if they are to succeed in achieving their goals. Notes and 2 references.