EdNet Forum: Loving Classrooms

Schools spend many hours managing students’ behavior. In some cases, doing so can starkly eclipse much of what ought to be going on during a school day. At the root of poor classroom behavior is a lack of awareness of the effects one person can have on others. ‘Happy people don’t shout’, as the saying goes; if people are misbehaving, it’s because they are in pain… and it’s my belief that instead of adding to that pain, schools should take time to understand whence it is coming.

Loving Classroom is an international school program to help young people aged 12 years and older cultivate a lifetime of good relationships: at home, with friends, in school, at the future workplace, within communities, and eventually between cultures and nations. The program is based on training teachers to facilitate and develop eight lessons in their classroom: Respect, Compassion, Listening, Kindness, Gratitude, Love, Care, and Friendship. In addition, by accentuating the positive, there’s a natural reduction in the negative: bullying, anger, disruption, selfishness, and apathy. After completing the initial course, classes will be linked with other schools of diverse backgrounds, locally and internationally, to cultivate a loving world.