Kids pretend to be stupider to avoid bullying...

[seawasp]

... and this is news? This is a surprising finding?

This isn't news, folks. It's the way it's been for a long, long time. I went through it, though I didn't hide anything; instead, I learned to be an arrogant, obnoxious SOB who showed off his intellect because it was the only thing he could do to hit back. I did know other kids who acted dumber than they were to keep from being a target.

Oh, and all your "anti-bullying" lectures and so on? They won't work, not much, not for long. What would work is changing the way that physical prowess and intellectual prowess are depicted on the most basic level, but that's not going to happen. The other thing that would work is actually approaching the problem rationally and by each instance on its own merits, but in general what happens is one-size-fits all, "zero tolerance" approaches that end up punishing the bullied parties along with the bullies... or actually punishing no one effectively.

Comments

[kengr]

I frequently point people at the "smart" kid in Tom Sawyer to show that American Culture has disdained the "smart" and "good student" type kids for quite a bit longer than most want to admit.

What does one of the big objections to the kid boil down to? He follows the rules and properly notifies an adult about violations...

Something that needs a *lot* more attention is that various age groups of kids have their *own* culture that spans continents (see the paper from the 50s about how a mangling of the Daniel Boone theme song made it from the US to Australia long before the actual show did).

Given that, changing the (adult) rules only helps a bit. You need to find a way to get a various kid cultures to change. And part of that is likely going to require one hell of a lot more *respect* for said cultures and for the viewpoints of the kids.

One of the hard parts will be proving to the kids (and teens) that the adult culture can be *trusted* to be fair (from *their* point of view, not that of the adults) and to be *consistent*.

And even before "zero tolerance" policies on dealing with attacks were weird (and stupid). I got hit with tear gas from a "pen" away from school, and violated "the code" by reporting it to the school (and dragging along a friend who witnessed the attack to confirm my version).

The guy who attacked me was suspended for a few days. But so was I. Which really made *no* sense.

[odanu.livejournal.com]

I'm pressed for time and don't have time to search for the article, but I remember an article about a school in Hawaii that had nearly eliminated bullying through a concerted effort to change the school culture, incorporating some principles of Buddhism among other elements. I've been wanting to follow up, but it sounded interesting.

[groblek.livejournal.com]

I agree. I was too stubborn to hide my intelligence, and honestly didn't even think of it. For me, what worked was taking up martial arts at the end of Jr. High - I gained enough confidence to seem less like a target, and since it was a very small town, all the bullies knew I'd started learning to fight back and decided to find easier targets.

[donald young gloversville (from livejournal.com)]

Well I took a different route. I was one of the smart kids but was made fun of for being poor, wearing high water pants,(I was tall and skinny) and lots of other stuff that goes with it. I learned to make fun of myself and make the bullies laugh BEFORE they made fun of me. Only a few times throughout school was I actually hit.
This worked well except for people not taking me serious once I got older. The revenge was that most of the high and mighty cool, cute, rich kids are now fat, bald, ugly and alone.

Thank you father time and mother nature.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I am turning into a pedant. Or maybe I'm finding it harder to hide.

Why is 12% of girls one in 10, while 11.4% of boys is more than one in 10?