Don’t Peak at High School: From Bullied to A-list

by Margaret Nixon, CASSE

Re: the book “Don’t Peak at High School: From bullied to A-list” edited by Fiona Scott-Norman

I decided to read “Don’t Peak at High School” edited by Fiona Scott-Norman after hearing about the Comedy Festival show it inspired.  I was interested to see the way that this book would present the ‘formative experience’ of bullying, hoping it would be seen as an experience that was part of strengthening a person.  In reading the book there was no sense of a celebration that bullying is a good thing that should happen to all, but rather recognition that bullying is one of life’s painful experiences.  It is a book that provides hope for those who have experienced or are experiencing bullying.  It provides grounded and realistic accounts of how a number of Australian politicians, comedians, writers and sports people were able to step back from their experience of bullying and make some sense of what occurred to them.  They generously shared both the painful time it represented, but also how it was not the experience that defined who they were.

I think, actually, that being bullied made me more resourceful; I have the idea that if things are hard I know I can dig a little deeper to get through something. Nothing is so bad that I’m not going to get through it.  Charlie Pickering p.104

This book provides a great resource for those working in schools, providing a source for conversations with students on the impact of bullying and the role of bystander, victim and bully.