According to figures from the Ministry of Education, nearly one in ten students is the victim of bullying during their schooling. However, this harassment is, often unfairly, correlated to the reputation of the harassed pupil. To better understand these mechanisms, educational sociologist Margot Déage, who has just published In the school of bad reputationsevokes this phenomenon.
What is reputation?
“Reputation is a rumor that crystallizes. When it forms, without foundation, simply because being noticed is frowned upon, it generally pursues the student throughout his schooling, explains Margot Déage. For girls, it mostly revolves around insults related to sexuality. While the boys rather bear the stigma of being intellectual, of balance, sometimes also treated as effeminate boy because being intellectual, for them, does not express a certain form of virility”.
The reputation of the students puts teachers in great difficulty “who have to position themselves in the intimate circle when they do not necessarily feel ready or equipped to do so”, specifies the sociologist. Before emphasizing that “the difficulty, for the student, is that the reputation is often minimized by adults. And that when taken seriously, this approach can lead to more teasing from other students; so it takes adults a certain amount of finesse to restore stability and peace within relationships.”
This article is produced by Brut and hosted by 20 Minutes.