One survey question asks students if they did not go to school in the last 30 days because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to or from school.
A survey released in 2010 found 5 percent of high school students nationwide stayed home from school on at least one day for those reasons. But the question doesn’t ask why students felt unsafe, so the statistic could also apply to students who live in a high-crime neighborhood or fear crossing a dangerous intersection on their walk to school.
Bullying is a real problem. And it makes sense that people who are passionate about that problem want to draw attention to it with a big, eye-popping statistic. But spreading a poorly sourced number that doesn't hold up ultimately hurts the cause of ending bullying. It becomes easier for skeptics to ignore the problem.