What can be done against bullying at school, how to limit it? These questions occupied Raffaela Rose in her most recent seminar paper.
"Civil courage" was the main topic for the twelfth graders of the Egbert-Gymnasium Munsterschwarzach (EGM) in their last phase of upper school. Because suicides due to bullying are not uncommon among students, the 18-year-old student from Kitzingen has thought about the cruel variant of psychological terror in detail and written down her thoughts.
A terrible end threatens
Insults, exclusion, exposure – bullying has always come to a terrible end, says Raffaela and wishes for the attention of the public. "Young people withdraw completely from life, commit suicide or go on rampages." Her hope for the future: to go against the flow to help someone and to show civil courage.
Before the high school students chose their topics, they studied the Nazi era in detail. "It happened, so it can happen again. Our job is to make that impossible,", according to the background.
"Only civil courage can also prevent such things in the future", knows German and history teacher Herbert Muller. Especially for this topic the traveling exhibition of the Kreisjugendring Ebersberg with the title "Lebensborn e.V." brought to the high school. Until the end of next week, the presentation can be seen in the break hall of the high school. The exhibition was supplemented by the impressive work of students from the 12th grade. Class.
At the opening of the exhibition, principal Robert Scheller was able to award three of these students for their outstanding results. Christina Schurger was honored in mathematics (structure and function of the Enigma and its significance in the Second World War), Barbara Lorey in biology (hypothyroidism using the example of two risk groups) and Miriam Kirch in history and social studies (training civil courage with children and young people).
Can one practice civil courage??
An enormous number of abuse cases in the past decades and the number of victims who speak out publicly have given Miriam Kirch courage to tackle the issue. Why did no one stand up and help?? Can one practice civil courage? These questions have occupied her for a long time and she has found an answer: "Moral courage can be trained and is effective in the long term." Together with sixth-graders from her school, she has successfully conducted a civil courage training course. But the 17-year-old student from Fahr am Main has also found that the training has to be repeated again and again for it to bear fruit. Miriam Kirch therefore calls on schools to continue such moral courage projects and to give them a firm framework in the school day. At the EGM, this topic is already being addressed by the "School without Racism – School with Courage" group Treats.
"Encouraging civil courage should be a priority. Not just when it has to be proven in acute cases", Raffaela Rose expresses a clear wish in her conclusion. They have already experienced in their free time how young people were teased or beaten by others. "If you know the people, then you should definitely intervene", she says.
Raffaela also points out the need for self-protection. With strangers who use weapons, for example, you should, in her opinion, turn on your head and not put yourself in mortal danger when you are alone. "Call the police immediately and get help", is her tip.
Stop the process
In the case of bullying, you should definitely show moral courage. "If you work to stop bullying, you can stop an entire bullying process", says Raffaela. Already a grain of sand in the transmission can bring a machine to the standstill. "Everyone can be this one person and everyone should be this one person."
The traveling exhibition of the Kreisjugendring Ebersberg "Lebensborn e.V." supplemented by presentations from the seminar "Civil Courage is still open until 14. March in the break hall of the Egbert-Gymnasium Munsterschwarzach to see.