Posted on 01/26/2006 6:31:46 AM PST by cid89
Senior: School discriminates against boys
MILTON, Mass. (AP) -- A senior boy at Milton High School has filed a federal civil rights complaint contending that his school discriminates against boys by making it easier for girls to succeed academically.
Doug Anglin, in his complaint filed last month with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, claimed girls faced fewer restrictions from teachers and boys are more likely to get punished.
"The system is designed to the disadvantage of males," Anglin, 17, told The Boston Globe. "From the elementary level, they establish a philosophy that if you sit down, follow orders, and listen to what they say, you'll do well and get good grades. Men naturally rebel against this."
Girls outnumber boys almost 2 to 1 on the Milton High honor roll, and almost 60 percent of the students in Advanced Placement classes are female, according to information provided by school officials.
Anglin, who plays soccer and baseball and plans on going to college, hopes the Education Department will react to his complaint by coming up with national guidelines on how to boost the academic achievement of boys.
Teachers must change their attitudes toward boys and look past their poor work habits to find ways to encourage them academically, said Anglin, whose complaint was written by his lawyer father. Too many boys give up too soon, he said.
He has his own ideas on how Milton High can help boys, but school officials say they are unlikely to adopt his suggestions.
Anglin wants Milton High to give credit for playing sports, as it does for art and drama; allow students to take classes on a pass/fail basis so more students will take advanced course without risking their grade point average; and do away with the school's community service requirement, which he says is resisted by many boys.
Superintendent Magdalene Giffune said the community service requirement is "an important part of teaching students to be responsible citizens," and she will not consider dropping it.
But while school officials deny that girls get better treatment than boys, some of Anglin's fellow students, including some girls, see his point of view.
Kelli Little, a senior and student body president, said there is just one boy in her 22-member honors Spanish class, and that while she rarely gets asked to produce a hall pass if she is not in class, boys walking close behind her are routinely questioned.
She said that one teacher at the school expects students to type class notes and decorate their notebooks.
"You can't expect a boy to buy pink paper and frills to decorate their notebook," she said.
According to a 2005 report by the Educational Equity Center of the Academy for Educational Development in Washington D.C., boys nationwide are increasingly falling behind girls academically and are more likely to get suspended.
The Education Department is evaluating whether Anglin's complaint has merit, spokesman Jim Bradshaw said.
"I'm not here to try to lower the rights of women or interfere with the rights of minorities," Anglin said. "We just want to fix this one problem that we think is a big deal."
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Boys must spend more time studying and less playing.
She said that one teacher at the school expects students to type class notes and decorate their notebooks.
You can't expect a boy to buy pink paper and frills to decorate their notebook," she said.
--You can if the school is run by the good old Dem. teachers union.
When my son took American History, he was routinely required to create storyboards illustrating chapters and presentations. It got to the point where I was asking if this was History or Art. And if he didn't do a artistic job, his grade suffered.
If they gave school credit for playing xbox, I know some boys that would be Valedictorians.
My college is 70% female, and the administration sees absolutely no problem. It won't change until the laws change and the administrators and teachers change. That won't happen until we push back. This lawsuit is a good start. Unfortunately, it puts the courts back in the middle of it. Ideally, we'd get the courts out if it on both sides, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.
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Yea, God knows it's those radical feminists who are causing the boys to "naturally" rebel against sitting down and doing their GD work. God knows is the radical feminists who are causing the boys to resist community service. What a crock.
Perhaps if boy would sit down, shut up, and do his work (that is expected of him), he could get into those AP classes.
This is no different (in my never terribly humble opinion) than the black kids who say getting good grades is "acting white". This is just the male version of that, sitting down and doing your work is "acting like a girl".
{ducking}
Why doesn't anyone track the decline in boys performance and the feminizing of the schools with the total bottomless decline of the accedemics.
If the schools hacks want to save their jobs they had better pay attention to boys. (but that would involve teachers actually working as a group)
I think it is safe to point out that it is natural for boys to want to play more then girls.
But when the feminists decided to take their rage out on acadamia for their "Equal Rights Amendment" being shot down in the '80s the resulting "Title IX" ruling mandated that name of equality "Girls must play more and study less". And what if the "Girls didn't want to play more"? Then the government forced schools to drop sports teams from their schools so that the number of of boys desiring to play equaled the number of females desiring to play.
This kid's suggestions are the wrong approach, but his complaints are accurate. If you compare an essay or any assignment using objective grading of teacher's opinion, of boys to girls, you will see the bias clearly and quickly. Boys are downgraded; graded harshly by feminist teachers. Girls are given the benefit of the doubt.
In addition female teachers harass boys - falsely accusing them, questioning their intentions and honestly - whereas with girls all is beleived. The constant harassment makes boys angry and encourages them to disengage from school. We had one female teacher that was so malicous with boys in general and our son in particular (she hates jocks - manly men), we did not permit our son to speak to her without a witness present to protect him from her flase claims about him. It worked. All the "problems" with this nut disappeared in the face of a witness.
The girls do better on blabbing answers because they are better at b.s.ing an answer and have the advantage of the teacher pulling for girl power. The boys do better in subjective testing where the answer is right or wrong and the teacher can not get away with booing boys. Grades are mostly made up of subjective grading projects and essays.
The solution is to end public school monopoly and start up some boys schools where feminists have a real hard time getting away with bothering boys.
most young males don't give a damn about school. it's in thier 'nature'. after they graduate is when they excel and become superior to most (not all) women.....flame time!
My personal favorite was when my old english teacher graded my cousin's girlfriend rediculously higher than my cousin, simply because "everyone knew" she was so smart. He proved he had less grammar mistakes, more citations, and better organization by the notes she put on both their papers and he still got a full grade less than her. She did end up being valedictorian due to the blatant favoritism of the teachers. She was smart, but not that smart.
On the face of it, that's a bit much. You do need to learn to follow orders and direction. But there's more than one way to do that.
Girls outnumber boys almost 2 to 1 on the Milton High honor roll, and almost 60 percent of the students in Advanced Placement classes are female, according to information provided by school officials.
All pretty typical in any co-ed school in the country.
Teachers must change their attitudes toward boys and look past their poor work habits
That sounds pretty lame. But they do need to find a way to help encourage young men to achieve academically. On the other hand, so do the parents. Without parental emphasis on academics for their sons, there is little the teachers can do.
Anglin wants Milton High to give credit for playing sports, as it does for art and drama;
If we're talking about students getting credit for being in school plays and such things, then he's right.
allow students to take classes on a pass/fail basis so more students will take advanced course without risking their grade point average;
I don't see how that's male-specific
and do away with the school's community service requirement, which he says is resisted by many boys.
Tough shit, boys. Sounds like an attitude problem to me. I think this is way off base.
some of Anglin's fellow students, including some girls, see his point of view.
Kelli Little, a senior and student body president, said ... that while she rarely gets asked to produce a hall pass if she is not in class, boys walking close behind her are routinely questioned. She said that one teacher at the school expects students to type class notes and decorate their notebooks. "You can't expect a boy to buy pink paper and frills to decorate their notebook," she said.
All excellent points. I wonder if the school administration will take their Student Body President seriously.
According to a 2005 report by the Educational Equity Center of the Academy for Educational Development in Washington D.C., boys nationwide are increasingly falling behind girls academically and are more likely to get suspended.
Well, based on what I've seen in other juristictions where "Group 'x' is more likely to get suspended, so we have to change our enforcement structure so that all groups are disciplined equally", I expect that this will change forthwith!
The Education Department is evaluating whether Anglin's complaint has merit, spokesman Jim Bradshaw said. "I'm not here to try to lower the rights of women or interfere with the rights of minorities," Anglin said. "We just want to fix this one problem that we think is a big deal."
I think that some of this is bogus, but some of it is legitimate.
At best, maybe half the time spent at school was worthwhile. I want the six years of time wasted back. Of the people in our top ten, only one went into a challenging profession(Medicine). IT was all the "average" kids who actually applied themselves in college and the real world.
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