Posted on 01/21/2006 11:25:45 PM PST by neverdem
First lady Laura Bush and a growing number of physicians, educators and psychologists say Americans need to wake up and see that boys lag far behind girls in school, and then demand that something be done.
Mrs. Bush, mother of two grown daughters, speaks at conferences and in interviews about the declining status of boys in today's learning environment. She has charged that boys are being overlooked.
"I think we need to pay more attention to boys. I think we've paid a lot of attention to girls for the last 30 years ... but we have actually neglected boys," Mrs. Bush told Parade magazine early last year.
William Pollack, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School, agrees.
"Boys are suffering. They are sitting in classrooms where they can't perform at the same level as girls and so cannot compete with girls," he says. "As a result, they have lower self-esteem. The bottom line is that they are suffering both academically and emotionally."
Mr. Pollack, who also serves as director of the Center for Men and Young Men at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., points out that both upper-class Caucasian boys and minority boys are failing.
"All in all, most schools across the country today are boy-uncentered," he says.
Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens, co-authors of "The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life," back up claims that there is a "crisis in male education" with data from the Department of Education, the State Department and other sources. They point out that boys:
•Receive the majority of D and F grades given to students in most schools, as high as 70 percent.
•Create 80 percent of classroom discipline problems.
•Account for 80 percent of high school...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
i am trying to think of the example of one he missed on the practice test. the question asked which one does not belong and it listed "fez", "fedora", ""bowler" and a non-hat option which i can't recall, well he had no idea and it is because only through reading books would you know that those were hats. you won't see them on vocab tests.
i was not the slightest bit abashed about paying cash money for reading either. you motivate with whatever works, IMO!!!
Very true. My mom gave me some old reading tests from 30 years ago when she taught. They were pretty interesting to try out.
It's interesting to see the type of vocabulary one obtains from reading. Some kids really do gain a lot.
Girls tend to be easier to condition into the mold the schools want. Sorry, but experience has shown me that it's much easier to indoctrinate a girl than a guy. They tend to be much prouder of getting good grades for regurgitating eveything the teacher says without thinking. Some experiences may vary, but I've never seen a girl challenge a teacher's stance on anything, but for guys it's very common. If BS is being taught, more likely than not guys won't pay attention, but girls will to get their A's because it makes them feel good.
and the majority of school teachers are female....
Solution: Destroy their weapon. Abolish government schooling. Put parents, teachers, and administrator back in charge. This can only be done if universal K-12 education is completely and totally privatized.
I tend to agree, but it's not politically realistic any time soon. The best you might hope for is scaling back gummint schools to 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade so the poorest kids get a chance to learn reading, writing and 'rithmetic, as Thomas Jefferson suggested, IIRC.
A reason why I became one.
There has been discussion at the local level in a nearby county of having all girl and all boy middle schools. Certainly a thought. Of course we USED to have excellent all-male colleges until the liberals got a hold of them....
I have one daughter who is more of the typical compliant type. She has had teachers with liberal philosophies but she didnt' feel comfortable challenging them. One English teacher in particular did a number on McCarthy. That was then.......this is now. My younger daughter realized she would probably have this teacher and has read everything she can get her hands on about Joe McCarthy, including Coulter's book. This is one girl who is ready to challenge any teacher with facts. She is one tenacious little bulldog who is not afraid of challenges. But, you are very correct in your assumption that she is in the minority. It is the boys that more often will either challenge, or just ignore and go back to planning whatever mischief they can. (I was not fortunate enough to have boys, but I do get an absolute KICK out of my 4 nephews. Always, always something in the works with them.)
You sound like ANOTHER great parent. I like hearing about others' kids. I get a big kick out of some things that these little ones do and say too.
Excellent description.
Thank God I live thousands of miles away from THAT madness. This semester in my sophomore English class we are reading "Beowulf," to be followed by "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." Boys, for the most part, enjoy exciting stories with heroic men showing strength, courage, and intelligence.
To use the words of one sophomore boy: "I'm sick to death of girl amazon stories." You know, the ones where the girls are great and strong, and the boys barely mentioned at best or evil at worst.
The good news, at least for myself and my son, is that our schools way up here at the edge of the Arctic Circle are little influenced by the gender Nazis. I don't think there's a leftist in the bunch until my son gets to high school, and by that time, he should have the wherewithall to compassionately think of any leftist he meets as a prattling fool. It's good teaching in a place where a student who shows up at your doorstep with a shotgun means, "Let's go hunt some birds."
I have a high school classmate who teaches on Kodiak Island. He's "bearly" making it. :)
See, I'm getting tired. I forgot to capitalize one of the "I" words.
Wow. You homeschool, right? Is there a ping list for homeschoolers here? Are you using any particular curriculum?
My daughter is 18 months and we are considering homeschooling.
Yes, it is possible if the parents are proactive and alert. My older is in college and I watched everything and everyone like a hawk. Doubt I was the most popular parent, but I know I didn't care. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
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