School Anti-Bullying Programs May Have Opposite Effect

Giving kids whole new ideas

A lot of schools spend countless hours trying to stop bullying. But some question if they are sending the right message.

It started as a simple look at bullying. University of Texas at Arlington criminologist Seokjin Jeong analyzed data collected from 7,000 students from all 50 states.

He thought the results would be predictable and would show that anti-bullying programs curb bullying. Instead — he found the opposite.

(Hat tip to Reason commenter John)

Comments

[Thane of Steelport]

It's like those commercials with Wanda Sykes imploring you not to say "gay" when you mean "stupid". You finish watching it and say "uh, that was really gay".

[Paul.]

So, Wanda Sykes is telling us not to use use insulting, flip language...

Got it.

[Bean Counter]

Not that don't think they're a waste of time, but, still....It's possible that schools with anti-bullying programs have the programs BECAUSE there's a lot of bullying. Correlation is not causation.