ASCD Smart Brief Press Release

School bullying prevention programs—Proactive versus reactive

• In response to legislation addressing bullying in schools, many districts are adopting policies to deal with bullying, harassment, and intimidation.
• Many of these anti bullying policies focus on reactive responses to a school bullying problem once it has occurred, rather than on bullying prevention.
• Tanner’s Manners adds a proactive component: addressing the root causes of school bullying. Effective bullying prevention is built on a foundation of appreciating the value and dignity of each and every individual. Anti bullying starts with understanding how to treat yourself and others with respect.

Bullying prevention—Equipping kids to reject bullying

• Tanner’s Manners combines character education and social skills development to equip kids to resist the deception that bullying is cool.
• The motivation for bullying, or tolerating bullying, is considerably weakened when kids learn how to redefine “cool.”

Tanner’s Manners helps kids understand that bullies suffer from

• Lack of self-respect and respect for others
• Lack of tolerance of others and their differences
• Lack of self-control
• Lack of self-worth, self-esteem, and self-confidence
• Lack of a realistic self-image (a distorted sense of their own self-importance)

Promoting respect to combat bullying

Throughout the four modules of the Tanner’s Manners curriculum, there are activities that directly and indirectly address the root causes of bullying, and provide practical application of the concepts so that students can respond appropriately in real life situations. These anti-bullying learning activities fall into four categories:

• Developing self-respect and respect for others
• Developing tolerance of others and their differences
• Developing self-worth, self-esteem, and self-confidence
• Developing character and integrity

Anti-bullying activities throughout the curriculum help kids realize

• They don’t need to be a bully
• They can stand up to a bully
• They don’t deserve to be bullied
• Bullying hurts the bully, not just the bullied
• Bullying is the ultimate “uncool”

These materials are designed to aid educators to take a stand against bullying and
proactively deal with the root causes of bullying.

Anti Bullying | Bullying Prevention | Bullying in Schools | School Bullying | Anti Bullying Programs