Private School Students More Likely To Mitch Classes
Students in private schools are more likely to mitch off class and get involved in anti-social behaviour, according to a new study.
The findings were delivered by ESRI Professor Emer Smyth to an international conference at Trinity College.
Prof. Smyth noted that students in private schools have higher self-reported rates of:
Prof. Smyth said her team was surprised when they first came across their findings.
“It’s a finding we actually published a couple of years ago and we're still puzzling about it,” she said.
“It may be that there's less punitive sanctions in fee-paying schools than there would be in more disadvantaged settings, which may give students some leeway.
“The higher levels of anti-social behaviour in fee-paying schools seems to be related to, kind of, things like taking money that didn't belong to them at school or at home.
“[It may be] that there was more money or more stuff to be taken in more privileged settings.
“So it was a surprise but it shows that you can't really assume that, you know, anti-social behaviour is really about the young fellas hanging around in working-class areas.”
