Struggling School-Age Boys

I partly agree with the teachers comment below except when she states that we need good SAT scores to get into college which is true, but SAT scores have been around for a very long time and kids still scored well enough to get into good college without the pressure of standardized testing n schools. I believe that we should let kids learn in a enviroment that is not so pushy a rigid when it comes to the states standardized testing. Let teachers teach and kids leatn in a more relaxed enviroment..

I think that this is so true, but parents need to also be aware that what they are feeding their children can effect how their child functions. I'm not saying that you have to be a vegetarian but when you feed your kids all this sugar it does nothing but effect them socially and physically. I think that boys and girls learn differently but schools need to slow down and teach children at there pace and not to expect so much from someone so young. and i think that it's also good for parents to take the time to teach their children instead of just leaving it up to the teachers and i think that there is no way that any parent should dope up there child unless it's necessary and they've already tried everything else. reese_cup_23

Tyre has got this all wrong. The problem is not that too much is asked of kids in school. The problem is that too little is asked of kids in school. I come from Ireland. I started school at the age of 4 and learned to read and write in both English and Irish. I also learned math. Standards and expectations are much higher in Ireland. Six year olds in Ireland do the kind of work that third graders do in the US. Yet, we didn't have problems with boys acting up when I was a child. We didn't have to drug kids to get them to sit still.

In Ireland, primary school started at 9:30am. I think school starts too early here, so a lot of kids show up tired. We had breaks after every 1.5 hours of instruction. We studied 6 subjects everyday.

When I talk to young boys here they complain of boredom in school. Of course, they're bored. They are unchallenged. Children are curious and have a natural desire to learn, yet educators think that learning will harm them. They probably only study two subjects everyday. I would have wanted to tear my hair out if I spent the whole day learning nothing but English and Math.

Get rid of multiple choice and true false tests, which promote memorization rather than real learning. Get rid of standardized tests. Elementary kids should not be taking high stakes tests. Give kids creative writing assignments rather than standard book reports. Teach a variety of subjects: English, Math, History, Geography, Civics, Science, Art and Music at the Elementary level. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Welcome to NCLB, communism sounds great on paper but the whole freewill and human nature thing kind of messes it up. NCLB is a program designed to embrass our school systems in 2014 so that school voucher programs can be enacted. Hopefully, our next president will discard the program. All children deserve a good basic education. We have great teachers and schools just let them do their jobs that should be regulated by their states and local governments, not by the federal government or someone in the federal government that has never been in an elementary or high school classroom.

I have been teaching elementary school for the last 6 years. In those 6 years it seems that the number of male students on meds has gone up drastically. We as teachers are not allowed to recommend that a student be on meds as we are not doctors. Other avenues of intervention must be explored first. I have never recommended medication to a parent only reported behaviors that were keeping that student from learning.
During my 6 years of teaching I never gave preferential treatment to one sex over the other. They are my students. My job is to teach them and excite them about learning. Yes, boys can be more energetic, however girls can be too. I always viewed it as "as long as it's not interfering in their learning, hurting others or themselves."
I am really tired of parents who blame the teachers and the school districts for their child's situation. In some instances I'm sure there is truth to this. However, I have found that most school district and teachers are truly here for the children and have only the child's interest at heart. Most teachers are hardworking individuals who do the best that they can with what they have. Perhaps we need to look at our government and the ridiculous policy of 'No Child Left Behind.' These days it seems like it should be called 'No Child Left Untested & Leaving Lots Behind.'

I'm not convinced that young children are wired to be able to sit still for long periods of time. Sure some kids don't mind. But overall kids learn best when they DO, DO, DO! Movement is so critical for young children. Learning through play is essential. We have a problem of obesity because of the lack of activity and yet some teachers are bothered by the active 5 year old. I've had students who do their best learning while standing up. My husband, an attorney, loves to work at his "stand-up" desk. Sitting for long periods of time is not healthy. Perhaps we need to revisit the learning enviornment we have set up for our young students and really make it the best for them. Students learn differently - some kinesthetically, others musically...we need to teach to these learning styles and maybe then our boys will succeed. Medication is not the answer for all. How sad to think that we would resort to that so quickly. Perhaps we need more people reading work by Mel Levine.

This growing trend is not surprising when you measure the level of decreased physical activity and especially unstructured outdoor physical activity between our school-age boys today and 40 ago. Those seemingly simplistic in metholdology, by increasing unstructured, outdoor activities in a safe environment at least 2 more hours a day will prove to balance the physiological and developmental needs of our boys. Try it! It is the safest study to carry out and it will have dramatic effects on stabilizing our boys who are suffering from our cultural shifts that have led them inside to 'be safe'. Boys need at least 4 hours of physical activity a day. Turn off the TV and video games and throw them outside!

Interestingly, fifteen to twenty years ago the concern was that boys dominated all the attention in school and girls were not being given equal time in school. Schools were told to make a concerted effort to build girls' self esteem - as it turned out at the expense of attention to boys. It has worked beyond anyone's expectations.

This attitude has also become pervasive in society. Look at TV shows, especially commercials. Almost universally, women are portrayed as smarter than men, and girls are smarter than boys. How can boys not be affected by this constant bombardment. This is as absurd as a generation ago only showing females in a housekeeping role supporting the males.

Thank God!!! Someone who doesn't feel that our kids should be medicated, especially our boys!!! The culture of the last 10 years is to take a pill, and if your child is a little more active that the next (probably because they are medicated) than automatically they have ADD or ADHD! What happend to good quality family time after school? Let these kids be kids, they are our future, but we have to stop screwing them up!! In these economic times family is more important than ever! Maybe instead of 10 different after school activites maybe we as parents can just go home and have our kids help us fix a meal, and exchange the happenings of there day! I pray we get this thing together!

These articles slay me, because regardless of the position, three things are rarely mentioned as potential culprits: too much television, too many hours of video games and the severe lack of a healthy diet. I'm a father of two sons, a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old, and my wife and I forbid TV, video games and insist on a healthy diet; you'd swear we were abusing our sons by the way we are 'looked down upon' and judged by our peers. I would submit excessive TV/Video Games are screwing up the young neural pathways of children and the poor diets are contributing to adrenal spurts and crashes. I just wish more parents would embrace the ideas instead of look down their noses at them. Just some thoughts.

I am a teacher and mother of 2 young boys. Aware of boys struggling in school became a great concern to me so I decided to homeschool at least through elementary school. Unfortunately we are unintentionally trying to fit boys and girls in the same box and it is not working. I agree that boys and girls have the same intelligence level but boys learn differently. Boys need to be boys. The testosterone levels in boys vs. girls is different thus their behavior is different. It does not mean that it is bad behavior just different. Those of us who are married or in a relationship with the opposite sex know that we are two different creatures so why don't we embrace the differences instead trying to make boys, girls. For the most part boys need to work with their hands including physical activity. In our homeschool setting I find that about every 15- 20 minutes of instruction requires at least 10 minutes of turning my son loose to run wild with his brother. And guess what, after that he is ready to start instruction again. For a teacher it means more work. And I certainly understand the difficulties in that when you have 30 6 year olds to teach.

If you notice, most primary elementary school teachers are women so it only makes sense that we teach in a way the we understand as women. So the girls do great but we lose the boys. I think there needs to be a raised awareness in teaching methods we use so we can make both boys and girls successful.

The everyday presence of a stronge male role model is essential. Shutting off the video games and tv is essential. Embrace our boys and their energy and use it as strength not a weakness.

I can not belive that recess has been almost eliminated all together! What do the schools expect a 5 or 6 year old boy to do all day? Sit and be quiet? Hardly! I have a kindergartener whom within the first week was sent home with notes for bad behaviour because he wouldn't sit down in "circle time", and when I went to visit the school about it, I was told there was only 3 days of P.E. and one recess break a day! I was surprised! He is the third child I have, and niether of my other two children had any such issues at school. He is well behaved at home and I have never had any problems with him keeping his hands to himself or harming other children. So when this was suddenly a "problem" for him at school, I realized it was the lack of physical play! Schools today should not automatically assume its some form of mental or emotional issue, and they should realize that thes kids need more play time, less structure, and a slow introduction to academics!

I think you nailed it right on the head! My son has had a hell of a time in school. If there is a percieved problem the aswer was always give more work. My son would just shut down. I finally went after these so called teachers asking them if they didn't do something well and didn't like it, would they enjoy beying forced to do it more? I made them give less work so he could gain a feeling of accomplishment and confidence. I also gave him control of when to do work with this one rule, Git-r-done! With these changes he started to flurish. He had time to be a student and a kid in the eyes of the most important person, HIM!

I believe most of the problems with behavior that we are seeing from all children is a lack of discipline. I see rude children everywhere that have no concept of what it means to behave in a situation that requires good behavior. My children are not perfect and they get in trouble constantly, but they know when we go out to eat they will not be allowed to run around, scream and make eating a terrible experience for others. When we go to the store they know they are expected to stay by me and are not allowed to run and hide, touch every toy they see and they darn sure are not allowed to stand in the toy isle playing with and distroying the toys. In my opinion we have a generation (s) of weak parents who think treatening time out is going to make a child behave. Parents have to discipline by taking away important items, restricting activites and on occassion if necessary they need to use what most of us grew up with - a swift swat on our behinds. We are raising a bunch of rude, obnoxious kids who others (they may not say it to your face) can't stand to even be around.

The study is a joke. I think its easier for most parents to simply medicate thier children than look in the mirror and see that thier lack of parenting is the problem. Both my children are active ( they wear the heck out of me) but that is what they are supposed to do. Parents do your kids a favor - quit calling the pediatrician - there is NOTHING wrong with your child- the problem is you. Turn of the computer, turn off the TV, turn off your cell phone, ipods ......Go spend real time with your child - not just I'm standing next to them multi tasking kind of time. Show interest in them, in thier school work in their lives and trust me they will still be active and unable to keep still but you will see a difference.

Society is deteriorating because we have taken God out of the equation...remember the pledge of allegiance we use to recite ever morning in the classroom...'One Nation UNder GOD', remember our old currency which stated 'In God we Trust'...yeah I miss them as well.