TEENS MOVE FROM HARASSMENT TO MUTUAL RESPECT

* Last summer, more than 100 school administrators answered a request from the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) to share an example from their school of an incident with moral implications and how the situation was resolved. The following is one of those incidents reported in the spring issue of the Academic Forum of NAIS:

``We had a series of incidents one spring in which boys were sexually harassing girls. Besides stopping the inappropriate behavior, we had to educate the students. Many of the girls were unclear about what was appropriate, but they were clear about their own discomfort. We had to teach them that being uncomfortable is a sign of violation. Some boys felt the girls' behavior was provocative. We had to educate the girls about provocation and the boys about appropriate behavior regardless of provocation. Some of the boys' parents felt we were too hard on the boys. For a time it felt as though everything we said got us into trouble, but in the long run, we have established an atmosphere of respect among young men and women.''