”He took my ball!”
”She called me a bad name!”
”They won`t share the swings!”
Enter a team of conflict managers, ready to help their peers to solve their own problems.
Courtney Ellis of Geneva is one of these peace officers, a three-year veteran of the force for Harrison Street School, serving once-a-week duty on the playground.
The 11-year-old explained the process involved with settling a dispute:
”If you see somebody fighting word-to-word, either they come up to you or you come up to them. You state your names, and then you say `Do you have a problem?` If they say no, you can`t force them. If they say yes, you tell them the four rules they have to agree to.
”One of the rules is do not interrupt,” she said. ”Then, please tell the truth. Do not call names or say bad things about each other. And then they have to agree to solve the problem.”
Once the rules have been agreed upon, Courtney said, ”Each conflict manager asks, `What happened? How do you feel about it and why?` And then they each have to find a way to solve the problem; then the other person has to agree to a solution.”
It`s not all glamor for conflict managers; after reaching a peaceful settlement, there`s paperwork to be done.
”There`s a sheet you fill out,” Courtney said, ”with your name, the date, who`s conflicting, and if it was solved or not.”
Without prompting, the verbally precocious 6th grader provides a model to exemplify peaceful co-existence between a couple of stooges.
”Let`s say Larry and Moe have a problem,” she said. ”Larry would say something like, `I`ll give him a turn,` then Moe would say, `Well, I`ll agree to that, and I won`t grab whatever he`s playing with,` and Larry agrees to that.”
One senses that, had Conflict Manager Courtney been around a few generations earlier, the Three Stooges could have led a more serene lifestyle.
