Positive Peer
Culture
Jesus
Christ created the model, during his three-year ministry Jesus created the
most powerful positive peer culture known to man!
We believe
that the kids who populate our nation's schools are in desperate need of
an antidote for the narcissism, laziness, rebellion, mean spiritedness and
antisocial lifestyles that have become so prevalent with today's society.
Through a Christ centered student governmental system known as "Positive
Peer Culture" students of Elk Ranch Academy experience a change of heart
through participation in selflessness and service to those in need.
The Positive Peer Culture government promotes the ideals of caring,
serving, and trusting each other. Teaching the Bible is not enough,
Churches everywhere are doing that and our youth continue to struggle.
The Positive Peer Culture works in the same manner as negative peer
pressure, only the outcome of the behaviors is positive. The Positive Peer
Culture process uses “modeling” and “positive peer pressure” to create the
transformation from negative behaviors to positive behaviors.
We know that kids just want to fit in and be accepted within their peer
group. We also know that they can easily adapt to pro-social
values, if those values help them to "fit in". At E.R.A. we redirect
the negative peer pressure in such a way as to promote pro-social values.
In doing so, kids naturally begin to conduct themselves in a manner that
gains acceptance. Once they transition from the anti-social to the
pro-social values, the outcome is amazing. To the
Elk
Ranch
Academy
student, operating within the Positive Peer Culture becomes as natural as
hanging out with his friends and family.
Instead of being
pressured to act out negatively our students are encouraged to love,
serve, and support one another. The core design of a Positive Peer
Culture is accomplished when we create an environment where kids develop a
sense of self-worth, significance, dignity, spirituality and
responsibility. However, this only happens as the students become
committed to positive values. The commitment toward pro-social
values is reinforced when the student gains status for behaving
pro-socially. In the case of
Elk
Ranch
Academy, the
pro-social values are centered on the idea of helping and caring for others.
With the Positive Peer Culture we direct students away from narcissism,
disrespect and conflict, moving them toward a spirit of concern and service
for others.
The staff at
Elk
Ranch
Academy
build a climate characterized by trust and openness. The Positive Peer
Culture process empowers students to help and serve one another. The focus is to reward those
students who demonstrate genuine concern for fellow students, as well as
staff. There is no coercion, psychological intimidation, or manipulation
involved. Within the Positive Peer Culture no one is forced to do anything,
instead they are encouraged through authentic concern.
We
believe that growth comes through challenge. "Change" often
creates challenges and many times behavioral issues are derived from a young
persons unwillingness to deal with change. When youth are taught that
challenges and change are opportunities to be embraced, their struggles turn
into opportunities to grow and change becomes exciting and fun. Positive
Peer Culture focuses on the direct and immediate issues
and challenges of an individual, not the past problems.
Many times children are truly victims of horrendous trauma. Nevertheless,
you can't go back and change what happened. The question is, "what
are you going to do about it now?" Within the positive peer culture it is all about how and what someone is going to do
with the choices he has today, even when it involves a horrific event of
the past.
In schools across the country teachers demand conformity and
obedience. Elaborate sets of rules are concocted and then they search for
ways to enforce them. Rewards are offered to students for behaving, and
punishments are applied to keep them from misbehaving. Rather than demand
obedience, the Positive Peer Culture concept demands that young people
become the mature and productive human begins they can be. Positive
Peer
Culture is concerned with setting expectations high enough to challenge
the young person to do all he is capable of doing. To expect less is to
deprive him of the opportunity of feeling as positive about himself as
possible. The focus of a Positive Peer Culture is on
"values" instead of "rules", values are much more powerful.
Too often rules are geared to keep students in submission, and to
"control" behavior, creating a power struggle, an
"us" versus "them" mentality. This process subverts trust
between student and staff. The truth is that rules do not teach
youth
how to live responsibly. While some students may learn to obey rules, they still may
fail when no one is there to set and enforce the rules. Young people
need to learn basic values for living and not merely memorizing a set of rules.
At
Elk
Ranch
Academy
we make "caring' fashionable. We know that a Positive Peer Culture
can only exist in a climate of mutual concern. The job of teachers and
staff at
Elk
Ranch
Academy
is to establish positive values, to teach by example how to serve one
another. The teachers and staff of
Elk
Ranch
Academy
establish the pattern of caring through modeling and by rewarding those
students who follow their lead.
No matter what has happened in the life of the
Elk
Ranch
Academy
student prior to his arrival, there is always a new opportunity to get it
right. It is our mission to instill
principles, such as caring, serving others, discipline, commitment,
honesty, and integrity into each and every student we work with through the
Positive
Peer Culture concept and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
