The School in Which It Is Mandatory To have More Than One Best Friend
Bullying is one the problems which worries parents and teachers. The situation of a child who is excluded, alienated and isolated is something that makes parents suffer. To fight against it, one Danish school uses a unique methodology in order to promote respect and comradeship between pupils.That methodology includes rules such as banning having one best friend or making it mandatory to invite all the class (invite <em>the whole class)</em> to your birthday party.
The school is a private school whose name is Bernadotteskolen, founded by a parents group in 1949 and based on the (same) ideas about conflict prevention. The school has 590 pupils and some subjects are taught in English. It is a liberal school with few rules.
Learning values such as friendship, integration and respect is as important as learning mathematics in Bernadotteskolen. They are trying to teach the little ones, between ages 6 and 12, to respect some social rules. What happens if one child has only one best friend? The school doesn't intervene and doesn't try to separate the friends.