Slashdot Mirror
Young Students Hiding Academic Talent To Avoid Bullying
jones_supa writes "The recent anti-bullying survey conducted by ABA brings up some interesting findings. According to it, more than 90% of the 1,000 11-16 year-olds surveyed said they had been bullied or seen someone bullied for being too intelligent or talented. Almost half of children and young people (49.5%) have played down a talent for fear of being bullied, rising to 53% among girls. One in 10 (12%) said they had played down their ability in science and almost one in five girls (18.8%) and more than one in 10 boys (11.4%) are deliberately underachieving in maths – to evade bullying. Worryingly, this means our children and young people are shying away from academic achievement for fear of victimization."
There has been a change in the degree of supervision in schools from when I was in grade 4 in 1948. At that time we had separate boys and girls playgrounds, each of which had a teacher on duty. There were no hidden corners for bullying. The walk-in and walk-out halls had teachers in them. Bullying was at a low level in school. After school there was bullying, but it was avoidable in the diaspora of kids going home. I then went to high school. Teachers were present in all halls and stairwells at room change and in recess. Recess was co-ed and there were 2 teachers present. Lunch time was also supervised on school, and there were opportunities off-school at lunch and going home for bullying, but the level was low.
Fast forward to 2010, ignoring cyber bullying, I see more bullying within high schools due to the lower level of teachers present in stairwells and halls. I can only attribute this to unions changing work rules and salaries so that it became too costly to use these staff that way, and in addition, they gained the right to avoid duty in the halls as a bargaining point, preferring the teachers lounge or outdoors for a short trip by car using the frequent single and double period gaps introduced by the new work rules.
Cyber-bullying can only be prevented by an online overseer of all student communications via the internet or by text. All players would be known in full. No pen names or avatars for the school web. The internet would also need parental supervision so that a similar level of known communicants can be enforced there as well. Horrors, what's this? Loss of freedom? Perhaps it could be like a drivers license, learner period until 16, then wide open?
This is where new ground needs to be made. None now know the lack of rules that governed drivers and cars back in 1900 when they first came in. The internet is now in that stage where it must progress from the wild west to a better governed society, and that may result in curbs to freedom.