Thursday, September 03, 2009

Girls, Boys and Bullying

Girls currently get better GCSE results than boys, which is undoubtedly down to the fact that they are more likely to be drunk. (As is anyone who thinks that GCSE's haven't been dumbed down to become a joke qualification nowadays)

The table halfway down this article also shows the clear link between enjoying yourself at School (Turkey) and bullying (Turkey again)

1 comment:

Jono said...

I'd be interested to know what they mean by "bullying" in that context. When I was at school (approximately 1991 - 2005), we received a constant barrage of information on the subject. Even as a pre-teen it was all a bit suspect.

Bullying was split into three categories:

1) Physical bullying. Fair enough. Nobody likes having their sweets and pocket money stolen while at school or going home with a black eye.

2) Verbal bullying. Sticks and stones quite frankly. If someone gives you lip, give them some back! We all knew that. This was made even more ludicrous when racial hatred legislation came into force, and suddenly kids became criminalized for their borderline-racist outbursts. The picture of a free society no doubt!

3) Exclusionary bullying. i.e. "excluding" people from activities and friendship circles. Now even I knew this was rubbish when I first heard it at seven years old. Why should you be forced to play with every Tom, Dick or Harry that sidles over? In adult life we call this the right to free association.

So I'm naturally suspect of what definition of "Bullying" is being applied to this survey. Something nice and liberal no doubt.