GLSEN has a new study called "Playground and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United States" which looked at bullying and homophobia in elementary schools. The study used 1,065 elementary school students in the third to sixth grades and 1,099 elementary school teachers of kindergarten through the sixth grade.
Here are some sad and interesting key findings:
- About 75 percent of all elementary school students report that students at their school are called names, made fun of or bullied with at least some regularity.
- Fifty-one percent of students say that fellow students at their school make comments such as "retard" or "spaz" sometimes, often or all the time, while about half of students (45 percent) report that they hear comments like "that's so gay" or "you're so gay" from other kids sometimes, often or all the time.
- One quarter of students (26 percent) and teachers (26 percent) report hearing other students make comments like "fag" or "lesbo" at least sometimes. Meanwhile, one in four students (26 percent) and 1 in 5 teachers (21 percent) hear students say bad or mean things about people because of their race or ethnic background at least sometimes.
- Slightly more than half (59 percent) of elementary school students say they feel very safe at school.
- Four in ten students (39 percent) say they hear other kids at their school say there are things that boys should not do or should not wear because they are boys at least sometimes. One third of students (33 percent) say they hear other kids at their school say there are things that girls should not do or should not wear because they are girls at least sometimes.
- Students who are bullied at least sometimes are three times as likely as others to say they often feel stressed (15 percent vs. 4 percent).
- Interestingly, 37 percent attributed the bullying to the fact that they weren't good at sports, compared with 26 percent who said their aptitude with schoolwork was the reason.
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