Chief Charlo Elementary students mentor younger children in Missoula, Montana

There’s no getting around the fact that any time humans amass in groups, a social experiment is under way.

You go to work, and you’re in a Skinnerian lab whether you know it or not; and so are thousands of children every day in Missoula County as they enter the brick-and-mortar confines of their schools.

They need to get along to learn, and we need to get along to earn.

So Chief Charlo Elementary School is among the signatories of the Montana Behavioral Initiative, an idea not so much inspired by the behaviorist-psychologist B.F. Skinner as by the simple fact that kids can be rough – and need to be led and taught about kinder, gentler natures.

JAMIE KELLY of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_1f39ae60-f143-11df-b640-001cc4c03286.html