TRAINING > Owning Up™ Description
The Owning Up™ program is based on the premise that social cruelty, degradation, and violence can be deconstructed and understood by examining how our culture teaches boys to be men and girls to be women. Further, the curriculum teaches children the skills to speak out against injustice and recognize that they have a responsibility to treat themselves and others with dignity.
The program recognizes the critical role of the bystander and group dynamics that can lead to social cruelty and violence among young people. It seeks to challenge people to understand the fundamental reasons why people dismiss their own or others’ opinions and treat each other in demeaning or violent ways. Through these techniques, we empower young people, as perpetrators, bystanders, or targets, to stop degradation and violence.
Owning Up™ classes rely on interactive activities and games, role-plays, writing, question and answer sessions, and discussions. Students are actively encouraged to engage in rigorous debate with the teacher and their peers while the concepts of safe space, respect for oneself and others, and support systems are emphasized.
What about the boys? What about the girls?
The program is equally relevant and designed for boys and girls. Educators shouldn’t have to choose between boys and girls when teaching violence prevention and life skills programs like this, or worry about leaving one group out. Boys and girls are equally impacted by the issues Owning Up™ addresses. The curriculum is usually taught single sex for the first classes, coed for a few classes in the middle, and then back into single sex classes to conclude.
What about the adults?
No program, Owning Up™ included, will work without the support and leadership of educators, administrators, parents, counselors, and coaches. To that end, we offer professional development trainings and resources to adults. Not only does this help to work with children more effectively, but it also helps develop competencies adults must have when working with each other.