Fred’s University has a longstanding research partnership with nearby Public School Zero, where it has conducted many studies over the last 200 years. Some of those studies involved “Peer Ranking” experiments where students are asked to rank all of their classmates in numerical order of popularity, likeability, attractiveness, etc.

The popularity data was then compared to various other factors. It has been shown for example that age correlates with popularity, with the oldest kids in a class being the most popular. It has also been shown that adolescents gain and maintain popularity through aggression and that the patterns of popularity among children are more similar to other primates than originally thought. Ethical concerns have been raised about these experiments and their impact on the subjects, as well as the bias they can introduce. Ranking pits children against each other, and clouds the data by reinforcing or even introducing new hierarchies which can change classroom dynamics.

In recent months several former Public School Zero students have come forward to say that Fred’s University Education Department experiments conducted in their classrooms were harmful and have caused lifelong emotional scars. The Fred Ed Department Chair issued a statement saying that children have benefited from the findings from these studies and that the resulting data is useful to everyone. The victims have countered that since research has often gone to show that rejected children rejected have bad outcomes, the possible benefit to rejected children has been outweighed by fatalism toward rejected kids. That mindset that some kids are just born losers causes educators to give up on them. One victim reported that after the study at Public School Zero, his English teacher told him it was “scientifically proven” that he would never amount to anything and no one would ever like him. Another victim described his peers writing “LOSER” on his forehead in sharpie and dunking his head in a toilet. 

While the Chair has been heard to say off the record that everyone knows high school is just a popularity contest, Fred Ed has remained silent as more allegations emerge. As it turns out, one of the child subjects of a Peer Ranking study is now an Assistant Professor in the Fred Ed Department, and he has challenged the (unpopular, unliked, and unattractive) Chair of the Department to submit a Peer Ranking Questionnaire to all Fred’s University’s Department Chairs. The Chair declined the challenge, but at a recent faculty meeting results of a student survey were “accidentally” shared on Zoom showing the Chair to be the least popular professor in Fred Ed. Off the cuff analysis shows that the Chair achieved his prominence through aggression and primate displays of dominance, but has suffered in his likeability as a result.

Also Read : Classroom Dynamics

 

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