【Sixth-graderIvoryKellyfinishedupanEnglishassignmentattheblackboard．Then…Ping!Ping!Hefeltsomethinghittinghishead．The12-year-oldknewjustwhowasdissinghim．HeturnedaroundandshoutedatDeAngelaByrd．DeAngelaclaimedshe】

　　Sixth-grader Ivory Kelly finished up an English assignment at the blackboard．Then…Ping!Ping!He felt something hitting his head．The 12-year-old knew just who was dissing him．He turned around and shouted at DeAngela Byrd．DeAngela claimed she was innocent．Then she called Ivory a"guinea pig．""Hosemouth!"he shouted back．Their teacher，Linda Mann，didn't send them to the principal．She didn't even make them stand in the hall．Instead，she sent them to work things out in a small storage room．The room is Glengarry Elementary's mediation center （调解中心）．

　　Mediation in school is a way to solve conflicts without having teachers punish students．Kids called mediators are trained to listen to classmates accused of misbehaving or fighting．Without taking sides，the mediators help troubled kids come up with their own solutions．It usually takes no more than 15minutes．

　　At Glengarry，30students from third through sixth grades are trained to settle fights．After calmly discussing the attack and name calling with sixth-grade mediators，Michael Reese and Tracie Thacker，Ivory and DeAngela signed a promise"not to mess with each other．"

　　Many U．S．elementary schools are starting to give kids more responsibility for discipline．In the past 10years，one-tenth of the nation's 86，000public schools have started programs to resolve conflicts，mostly in middle or high schools．But educators want to begin more mediation programs sooner．They say elementary-age kids are even better at talking about their feelings and deciding on a fair solution than older kids are!When a teacher or principal is not involved，"kids talk more freely，"says Glengarry Principal Loraine Johnson．

　　So far，mediation seems to work well．In one survey of 115Ohio elementary schools with mediation programs，two out of three noted a decrease in fights，and more than half said fewer kids were being sent to the principal's office．In New Mexico，reports of bad behavior in eleme