Segregating Children by Age: Contributes to Bullying?

(blog 4)
Since we have been discussing bullying, I thought this topic would be relevant. I came across a three-part article on Psychology Today called Why We Should Stop Segregating Children by Age by Peter Gray. The part that I will be focusing the most on is part two.

Gray suggests that our modern way of grouping children together by age is not effective. In today's world, children are grouped together by age starting when they are babies. Babies are grouped together in daycares and play groups, and toddlers often have their own separate areas and activities. In school, children are usually put into classrooms with other children that are their same age. ( first grade, second grade, and so on) Beyond that, children are sent to different schools based on their age (pre-school, elementary, middle school, high school). This means that many children are primarily exposed to children their own age.

The same thing often happens outside of school. For example- sports teams, clubs, and churches usually group children by their age.

According to Gray, children who are in groups with other children their own age are more competitive and aggressive. They fight for dominance because they see each other as a threat. He also mentions that in these settings children are expected to develop, learn, and mature at the same rate, which obviously does not happen.

On the contrary, children who play in groups that have different age groups get along better and have an easier time finding their place in the group. They also learn a lot from each other and tend to be more creative.

I know that in previous centuries, schools were often one room school houses with students ranging in age from kindergarten to high school. This is because areas were more rural and there weren't enough teachers or students to justify having different classes. This practice has gone away in more urban areas though, and even in rural areas, many students have to travel because the schools are bigger and there are less of them.

In Gray's first section of this article, he claims that when given the opportunity, children often interact with children who are older or younger than themselves. He gives the example of a school called Sudbury Valley School which has 170-200 students ranging from 4 years old to 18. The children are mixed together and mixed-age activities are encouraged. A study of the school found these results:

"In our quantitative study we found that more than 50% of students' social interactions at the school were with other students who were more than two years older or younger than themselves, and 25% of their interactions were with other students who were more than 4 years older or younger than themselves [2]. Age mixing was especially frequent during play. Active play of all sorts was more likely to be age mixed than was conversation that did not involve play."

What do you think? Would mixing age groups decrease bullying?