Guns and Chewing Gum: The Perceptions and Reality of Problem Behaviours in Public Schools

In a 1994 New York Times article, Barry O'Neill traced the evolution of two lists (one from the 1940s and one from the 1980s) of reportedly serious behaviours in the public schools. He found the origins of the list not to be based on empirical data, but instead to be fabrications based on political philosophy. The purpose of this descriptive study was to compare O'Neill's findings with data collected from both teachers (N = 150) and non-teachers (N = 36). Comparisons were also made between teachers and non-teachers. In general, both teachers and non-teachers rank those behaviours they directly observe as being the most serious with large discrepancies between rankings for similar behaviours (such as drug use and cheating) by both groups. Discussion focuses on the sources of differences between teachers and non-teachers and the general role the media plays in determining what citizens see as misbehaviour.