Fighting Bullying With Babies David Bornstein Summary
In “Fighting Bullying With Babies” David Bornstein illustrates the ability of infants to awaken empathy in young children. Bornstein begins his proposal by recalling the tragic events surrounding the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a college student who committed suicide after being overwhelmed by a developing trend known as cyber-bulling. He then briefly mentions what is already being done about bullying i.e. getting tough. Bornstein uses this point to segue into what he truly wants to discuss – a new method of bully prevention. A few statistics are thrown around to demonstrate the premise of the theory, how babies create an empathetic bond, and that children under 18months of age act altruistically. From this, Bornstein introduces an organization
called, “Roots of Empathy” founded by Mary Gordon, an organization that dominates the remainder of this particular proposal, for good reason. Bornstein elaborates on the sheer efficacy of this particular program, citing statistics as high as an 88 percent reduction in proactive aggression, a term Bornstein borrows a definition for: “The deliberate cold-blooded aggression of bullies who play on vulnerable kids,” (qtd. in Bornstein 451). The studies did not end there, when a similar program was introduced large scale across the province of Manitoba it lead to the percentage of fights falling from 15 percent, to 8. Bornstein’s final point is to emphasize the comparatively low cost to implement a program like this compared with the retroactive compensation methods currently employed. This astutely laid out proposal provides nearly everything one would need to embrace this program with few exceptions: maintenance in terms of cost efficiency over time, and the long-term effects on the children within the program. Does the empathy developed when they are young persist throughout their lives or does it eventually fade? A brief mention of the chemical oxytocin in the proposal raises the question of whether or not it will prove to be an effective solution for the remainder of a person’s life, or if they will periodically need to be reintroduced to an infant in order to sustain the progress that was made. These oversights are slight, and definitely not enough to deterred the development of a similar program, quite the opposite, it encourages investigation into these questions. The dramatic results cited in this proposal leave a reader wanting more.
called, “Roots of Empathy” founded by Mary Gordon, an organization that dominates the remainder of this particular proposal, for good reason. Bornstein elaborates on the sheer efficacy of this particular program, citing statistics as high as an 88 percent reduction in proactive aggression, a term Bornstein borrows a definition for: “The deliberate cold-blooded aggression of bullies who play on vulnerable kids,” (qtd. in Bornstein 451). The studies did not end there, when a similar program was introduced large scale across the province of Manitoba it lead to the percentage of fights falling from 15 percent, to 8. Bornstein’s final point is to emphasize the comparatively low cost to implement a program like this compared with the retroactive compensation methods currently employed. This astutely laid out proposal provides nearly everything one would need to embrace this program with few exceptions: maintenance in terms of cost efficiency over time, and the long-term effects on the children within the program. Does the empathy developed when they are young persist throughout their lives or does it eventually fade? A brief mention of the chemical oxytocin in the proposal raises the question of whether or not it will prove to be an effective solution for the remainder of a person’s life, or if they will periodically need to be reintroduced to an infant in order to sustain the progress that was made. These oversights are slight, and definitely not enough to deterred the development of a similar program, quite the opposite, it encourages investigation into these questions. The dramatic results cited in this proposal leave a reader wanting more.