classroom.jpg
Corinne Gregory's program of teaching manners, respect, and character in the classroom has found success in 11 states. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Will a manners class improve Washington's schools?

August 24, 2010 @ 6:11 am (Updated: 1:53 pm - 3/28/11 )

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By CHRIS SULLIVAN
KIRO Radio

Society has lost a lot of its civility. You see examples every day in Jet Blue flight attendants, that driver next to you, the lady who cut you off in the checkout line.

It's in the classroom too. A lack of respect for teachers and other students can be seen in kids acting out. It cuts into valuable class time. That's teaching time your kids can't get back.

Many teachers say they spend up to 30 percent of their class time correcting bad behavior or dealing with disruptive students.

"A 30 percent loss on our average calendar year is the same thing as losing 60 full days in the classroom," Corinne Gregory of Social Smarts told KIRO Radio. "If I could give you back 30 or 45 productive days, do you think you'd have better test scores?"

Gregory's program of teaching manners, respect, and character in the classroom has found success in 11 states.

But while Gregory's Social Smarts program focuses on teaching students, other programs look at setting-up schools in a way to cut-down on disruptive opportunities.

Schools in Bellevue, Tacoma and Puyallup use a program called Safe and Civil Schools, and it too has seen great results. "Huge gains in both academic performance and in behavior performance," said the program's Randy Spick.

Spick's program not only works on the kids, but it looks at environmental issues. Are the lunch-lines too long and creating more opportunities for bad behavior?

But if you think teaching manners or making kids play nice is a touchy-feely answer to money troubles and growing class sizes, listen to Dr. Ronald Stevens. He's the executive director of the National School Safety Center in California. "If you think teaching social skills and positive citizenship behavior is investing too much time," he said. "Try ignoring the issue and see what happens."

In an era when the answer to struggling schools seems to be throwing more money at them, Gregory told KIRO Radio better behavior will go farther than any amount of money.

"Instead of continuing to play 'Whack-a-Mole' with the latest and greatest problem and assuming all of those separate solutions require more money," she said. "Let's really look at what's hampering us and what's hurting us because I can show you how to accomplish more even with a budget of less."

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Comments (12)


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  • wonderfullone wrote...
    Here's a thought
    August 24, 2010 6:42 am
    How about teaching kids about accountability?

    Of course to be an effective approach, it would have to start at the top...

    ...nevermind.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Bubba wrote...
    Since when...
    August 24, 2010 7:09 am
    do parents get out of teaching their own kids the most basic things like manners and respect? What next? Kindergarten teachers potty training students because the parents can't/won't/are too lazy?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Goody wrote...
    Hold it, hold it, hold it.
    August 24, 2010 7:15 am
    I was given a stern and "snotty" lecture at the Bergenstein, pre wasal meeting in puyallup, on how it is was not the school's business to teach behaviour. That particular behaviour improvement belongs in the family.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • harveyd wrote...
    This Is What
    August 24, 2010 7:17 am
    the hippy movement (aka marxist) and welfare has given us - a lack of manners and accountability, and a civil society. Don't forget that we have islam to thank for airport security measures.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Goody wrote...
    With adults acting like unruly kids in a near empty theater,
    August 24, 2010 7:25 am
    it is too late for the gen X. One or two kicks on the back of the chair is permissible. However, five to ten minutes of that behaviour, calls for operant conditioning.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • flynnceo wrote...
    What about the parents?
    August 24, 2010 8:01 am
    This is so frutrating. If parents do their job correctly, then there are no issues when the child enters school. Unfortunately, there are parents out there who feel that it is the school's responsibility for the teachers to do everything. It is a full-time exhausting job for us parents to constantly stay on top of your children and make sure they follow through on their manners, but it does pay off in the end. The schools should not waste the money to purchase this crap.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cb-renton wrote...
    Society's Lack of Civility
    August 24, 2010 9:15 am
    You forgot an example. The 10-year-old's mother who swore at the press so bad they couldn't print it. This is an example of what our children are growing up with. Yes, I think it's a good idea to teach manners and respect to children in school. From this example, they're obviously not getting it at home. Furthermore, we have so many immigrants, and each culture has its own ideas of what constitues manners, which may or may not coincide with American manners. It needs to be taught somewhere, and where better than school.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Concerned wrote...
    They shouldn't have to waste their time !
    August 24, 2010 9:35 am
    If the school districts would just let the teachers run their class rooms the way they see fit AND if the parents would teach their kids the meaning of RESPECT, they would not have to waste their time doing what the parents should do in the first place. Just like the good old days !!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • len98531 wrote...
    yes, in the same way...
    August 24, 2010 10:04 am
    ...a sex-ed course prevents teen pregnacies and STD's. Or the way a Health class prevents obesity.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • biteme wrote...
    Hold on a minute
    August 24, 2010 10:43 am
    Teaching manners, responsibility , accountability etc are not part of the curriculum. These basic values should be taught at home, besides if these other kids continue to be little PITA's it just gives the kids who learn these values at home the upper edge in life. Check out the picture, who's not paying attention to the teacher. LOL
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }