Mediation

          Since my goal is to become a high school teacher, I expect that I will surely encounter disputes in my class. I would need the proper knowledge for handling these issues and I will surely need second opinions sometimes. I think that having people act as mediators is a great way to resolve arguments in an orderly fashion. Peer mediation is a good way to resolve fights between two parties. When two people get into an argument, they scream and are very uncompromising. Since both parties think that their side of the story is right, they are not open to hear what the other person has to say. There have been seldom cases where a dispute has been resolved through both parties yelling and throwing punches. The peer mediator's role is to act as an ear to a heated argument. Their job is to listen and absorb all the concerns from both sides and try to acknowledge them to hopefully help get to and resolve the root of the problem at hand.

     Mediators have a better understanding for what is going on because they are an outsider looking in. They can better listen when the argument does not concern them. A peer mediator does not take sides on the issues; they have to stay neutral to help come up with a compromising solution for both parties. They have to address the problem, take the positive points, and hopefully initiate a calmer 'talk' among the disputants. The main problem with an argument is the lack of communication. Information is getting put out, but no one is absorbing it. Peer mediators translate this information for the other party, since most of the time, an angry person will listen to anybody else but the person they are having a spat with. 

          As a student, I have encountered many instances where there was a fight between two students. Usually, the issues are petty but since the two parties involved are kids, the first harmless teasing results in major arguments. In a matter of seconds, punches are thrown and before someone of authority comes to break up the fight, damage has been done. The fight is usually over at that time. The high school that I attended offers a program where students can be involved in resolving these disputes. I once did attend a 'Peer Mediation' meeting. I remember sitting in a classroom after school with my enemy. The peer mediator was between us and there was a teacher in the far back monitoring our meeting. In my experience, the mediator was a bit lazy on the job. It felt like the person was not really interested in resolving our problem. Knowing that the mediator could care less about the fight discouraged both me and the other party from trying to talk out our differences. He was telling us the consequences of our actions and at that time we were both very mad. We did not want to hear about the outcomes. It was as if we were being threatened to lose something if we keep up with our fight, it just made us try to abide by the rules of the school but the main problem was still lingering and left unresolved. The mediator also looked like a robot, reading everything he was going to say off a piece of paper.

          Peer Mediators should be well trained and be able to fulfill their responsibilities. They have to enjoy what they do and at least act concerned about the problem they are handling. Their attitude towards the issue reflects on the disputants and if the mediators are not well trained to handle it, the fight may actually worsen. Mediators can create more frustration thus create more conflict. They have to remember that it is their job is to come up with a good outcome, not to just curb the parties from bumping heads again by threatening them with suspension.
 

          I know of someone that is a member of a program called 'Judicial Board' at her college dorm. The Judicial Board members act as student councilors for the students that fail to abide by the dormitory rules and regulations. She said that once there was a student that got punched by another student in the dorm. The consequence for such a misdemeanor is loss of housing. For both parties to keep their housing, they were given an appeal with the Judicial Board.  In these meetings, the parties are taken to a room with dorm facilitators and the Judicial Board members. They were issued a warning and were able to keep their spot on housing for the rest of the year. The Judicial Board in this case acted as the mediator between the head of housing and the residents.
 

          I think that peer mediation does help a lot in resolving issues. If it is handled by well trained people, it is a great way of addressing quarrels before things get worse and turn into violence. I hope not to face such situations during the course of my profession, but that is almost impossible being that I am going to have to deal with kids everyday. When the time does arise, I will be applying any and all of the knowledge that I have gained through this class. I will try my best to always consider both perspectives of the argument and come to fair and mutual agreements.