ABSTRACT
For many children, success in school means getting more answers right than others and loathing those students who do better than themselves. In the following example, where a teacher is using a boys-against-girls game of tic-tac-toe with addition problems, we can see how such competitive behavior is socialized:
A small boy comes forward for 7 + 2 and guesses at 8. The boys groan, the girls cheer; and the teacher looks pained … It seems the girls frequently win. The chagrined boy returns to his seat and … punches the little girl next to him as hard as he can saying “I hate you, I hate you.”
(Campbell, 1974, p. 182)