Despite all of the attention given to it by researchers, scientists, educators, psychologists, sociologists, etc., bullying continues to permeate K-12 schools around the world. Statistics on K-12 bullying in the U.S. confirm that not only did bullying double in the ten years between 2001 and 2011 but these numbers are not getting smaller. This thesis provides a sampling of studies and programs that have been done or are being done to understand, reduce, prevent, and eliminate school bullying. The emphasis of the sampling is on the use of top-down, hierarchical value structures, designed to encourage youth to comply with the values of a dominant adult group; these underlying values are in direct contrast to the underlying values of egalitarianism and self-determination that are inherent in the goals of the current study, where sixth grade students learned about dialogue and how to communicate with each other in nurturing non-hierarchical environments.
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