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The Trouble With Boys
Some scholars, notably Christina Hoff Sommers, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, charge that misguided feminism is what's been hurting boys. In the 1990s, she says, girls were making strong, steady progress toward parity in schools, but feminist educators portrayed them as disadvantaged and lavished them with sup-port and attention. Boys, meanwhile, whose rates of achievement had begun to falter, were ignored and their problems allowed to fester (page 53).
Boys have always been boys, but the expectations for how they're supposed to act and learn in school have changed. In the last 10 years, thanks in part to activist parents concerned about their children's success, school performance has been measured in two simple ways: how many students are enrolled in accelerated courses and whether test scores stay high. Standardized assessments have become commonplace for kids as young as 6. Curricula have become more rigid. Instead of allowing teachers to instruct kids in the manner and pace that suit each class, some states now tell teachers what, when and how to teach. At the same time, student-teacher ratios have risen, physical education and sports programs have been cut and recess is a distant memory. These new pressures are undermining the strengths and underscoring the limitations of what psychologists call the "boy brain"-- the kinetic, disorganized, maddening and sometimes brilliant behaviors that scientists now believe are not learned but hard-wired.
When Cris Messler of Mountainside, N.J., brought her 3-year-old son Sam to a pediatrician to get him checked for ADHD, she was acknowledging the desperation parents can feel. He's a high-energy kid, and Messler found herself hoping for a positive diagnosis. "If I could get a diagnosis from the doctor, I could get him on medicine," she says. The doctor said Sam is a normal boy. School has been tough, though. Sam's reading teacher said he was hopeless. His first-grade teacher complains he's antsy, and Sam, now 7, has been referring to himself as "stupid." Messler's glad her son doesn't need medication, but what, she wonders, can she do now to help her boy in school?
For many boys, the trouble starts as young as 5, when they bring to kindergarten a set of physical and mental abilities very different from girls'. As almost any parent knows, most 5-year-old girls are more fluent than boys and can sight-read more words. Boys tend to have better hand-eye coordination, but their fine motor skills are less developed, making it a struggle for some to control a pencil or a paintbrush. Boys are more impulsive than girls; even if they can sit still, many prefer not to--at least not for long.
Thirty years ago feminists argued that classic "boy" behaviors were a result of socialization, but these days scientists believe they are an expression of male brain chemistry. Sometime in the first trimester, a boy fetus begins producing male sex hormones that bathe his brain in testosterone for the rest of his gestation. "That exposure wires the male brain differently," says Arthur Arnold, professor of physiological science at UCLA. How? Scientists aren't exactly sure. New studies show that prenatal exposure to male sex hormones directly affects the way children play. Girls whose mothers have high levels of testosterone during pregnancy are more likely to prefer playing with trucks to playing with dolls. There are also clues that hormones influence the way we learn all through life. In a Dutch study published in 1994, doctors found that when males were given female hormones, their spatial skills dropped but their verbal skills improved.
In elementary-school classrooms--where teachers increasingly put an emphasis on language and a premium on sitting quietly and speaking in turn--the mismatch between boys and school can become painfully obvious. "Girl behavior becomes the gold standard," says "Raising Cain" coauthor Thompson. "Boys are treated like defective girls."
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Member Comments
Posted By: mayfieldga @ 11/03/2008 2:13:24 PM
Comment: Neglect and aggression hurts Males, pulling up by bootstraps. It creates higher average stress that inhibits learning and motivation. It creates the Male ego or defensive cushion Males develop to protect them from aggressions they receive. This defensive cushion alienates the Male from social and academic supports. High average stress and defensive cushion accumulates in harm over time. Men are given love, honor, and respect on the condition of achievement, money, power, and status. They must fight through confrontations from an early age to achieve feelings of self-worth. Society has created through prejudice and stereotyping, a Gender Cast System of Males and over support of Females. This is creating early training for Males to perform more menial tasks while women are being prepared for white-collar positions.
1. I fear followers of the genetic models will try to build a case for genetic learning differences or body mass requiring more activity or tactile learning. Note that nice middle class Males do not have this problem. Also the view of differences in brain activity are more due to large differences in differential mental, emotional, social, physical, and educational reinforcement over time, not organic differences.
2. I also fear the use of Male classrooms with more discipline and more time on task will only lead to more stern and even more harsh treatment and stereotyping of Males to perform more physical or menial labor to match the growing cast system being portrayed in the media against Males today.
We must learn to realize that our current, single/multiple intelligence models were simply accepted out of hand years ago and held on to by many who were in control and apparently felt satisfied enough with their own life. Such ones could not see the tremendous disadvantage and damage such narrow, short-sighted beliefs would have on others, even among some persons who are closely related to them.
I tell those who would still cling to the myth of permanence in ability they are killing their students whereas my learning theory offers two large, cognitive tools to continually improve ability and hope for children and adults. They are free to choose the myth of permanence in ability or my theory that provides hope and improvement.
The Male Crisis is one application of my Learning Theory. My Learning Theory provides two large tools we can teach to students and adults to continually improve thinking, learning, motivation to learn, and most importantly, mental/emotional health for all students and adults. My complete Learning Theory and its Cognitive tools are free to all by e-mail ??? mayfieldga@bellsouth.net Feel free to make copies of all files.
Posted By: economicwrestler @ 09/05/2008 1:39:23 PM
Comment: Our public school education system is a disaster. This came about for many reasons. Society: parents aren't allowed to discipline their own child without fear that child services is going to knock on the door. A good parent knows what their own child needs, whether it is a spanking or time out. Also, single family homes aren't suited to put the child first. The single parent is working all the time and has their own life to worry about. Instead of reading to the child, playing with the child or showing the child how something is done, the single parent puts in a DVD so the child will be entertained and stay out of the parents way while she catches up on work, email, etc. Then when the child starts acting out or becomes restless, our society says we have to medicate the child because it has to be ADHD. Our society thinks everything can be fixed with a pill. I own pharmacies and I know very few children to be ADHD that truly needs the medicine. The others are an inconvenience so they get the medics. Society, in general, has allowed our educations system to flounder because we don't discipline our children, we tell our children that if they fail at something it is the systems fault not the failing child's fault, and way to many parents are unconcerned about the schools and the children in them. Except, of course, their own child. And sometimes he/she really doesn't matter. It also fails politically. Everything teachers do nowadays is watched over to make sure it isn't somehow biased. Making sure that woman had the same opportunity is an awesome idea in theory, but in practice some girls mom will feel that her daughter isn't given something so it must be sexism. She complains to the school and eventually all the boys start to suffer because all the resources are spent on the girls. If we could take a huge step politically and allow or mandate that all schools have subjects where the sexes are separate so that it enables both sexes to learn the material by using the best method for the different sexes. Some subjects should be coed, but the majority and the important subjects should be separate. Also, allow for recess and gym class. Oh, and uniforms. The government should make uniforms mandatory. Finally, pay our teachers more. They get into the profession to give back to the children. I know, there are some teachers out there that just plain stink at what they do and couldn't teach anybody. The school will find this out and fire her. But the majority of teachers are good people that are trying their best to educate America's future. Give the more resources, better pay, and children willing to learn and they will succeed. The child that is ready to learn will be disciplined at home, read to, worked with and taught manners at home. This would go a long way in helping our poor public school system
Posted By: mjkittredge @ 04/11/2008 3:50:39 AM
Comment: Ok, I couldn't ignore THIS: quote " If your child is not taking interest in studies it means teen are struggling from learning disability." That is BS. Not taking an interest in studies could come from a variety of reasons, foremost among them the classes being boring, and the material not relevant to the students lives.
The problem as I see it, is that teachers and the subjects they teach, and the way they teach them, the work they assign is given a free pass. It faces little if any scrutiny. Sure, teachers submit their lesson plans to the school board, but they get a free pass from them too. Parents just assume that what and how the teachers are teaching is the right thing, without having a clue.
The downside to this lack of scrutiny, is that huge amounts of young peoples lives are wasted, sitting bored in pointless classes learning material and subject matter that they will never put to use. Sure, they spend hours and hours copying notes until their fingers are sore. Sure, they listen to hours and hours each day of long rambling lectures. And they diligently fill in either (A)(B)(C) with their number 2 pencil. Unfortunately, when this information isn't put to any practical use on a regular basis, students will eventually forget most of it.
Not only is their time wasted, they become frustrated and distrusting of a school that forces these things upon them, and clueless parents with rose colored glasses who figure it's great learning preparing kids for their future lives.
The only useful things I got out of school, 1-12, was basic math, and touch typing. Things I could have learned on my own, without any schooling. The other subjects, I have had no use for other than a few questions in Trivial Pursuit games.
The classes and their coursework need a comprehensive review, and more relevant subjects need to be taught instead.