Posted on 06/18/2006 6:14:42 AM PDT by Glenn
Westside seeking a way for both sexes to excel in the classroom
By Victor Alvis Dalton Daily Citizen Education will be a lot less “icky” for several Whitfield County students when school resumes this fall.
Westside Middle School plans to teach about 175 volunteer students — almost a third of the school — in gender-based classes of either all-girls and all-boys. Several students said they are looking forward to the change.
“I wanted to do it so nosy boys will stay out of my business,” said Emma Jones, 13, a rising seventh-grader. “They stink like cologne.”
Classmate Kirby Parm has experienced similar disturbances from the opposite sex.
“These classes should be a lot less annoying and less perverted,” Parm said. “Guys play with my hair, burp, make tapping noises and try to make me laugh. It’s distracting.”
While allowing that “girls talk too much,” some Westside boys seem to be less committal about the new classes, which will include sixth- through eighth-graders.
“I don’t care either way,” said Zach Sloan, 13, whose father is a member of the school council. “My dad convinced me to do it, but it wouldn’t matter to me either way.”
The absence of girls in the classes of these hormonally piqued teen boys is likely to make them less likely to act out in class, according to principal Stanley Stewart. Stewart organized approximately 60 students to test the program last school year.
“We just got the CRCT (Criterion Referenced Competency Test) scores back for them. Every one of them passed in reading, language arts, math and science. Only one boy and one girl didn’t pass social studies,” Stewart said. “We tended to see a reduction in discipline problems and an increase in academic performance.”
It should be noted the students chosen for that initial trial were not hand-picked from among the highest performers in the school. In fact, the top-tier “ALPHA” students — Accelerated Learning Program for High Achievers — at Westside are ineligible for the program because there are not enough ALPHA teachers to oversee separate-gender ALPHA classes.
“This was a cross-section of our sixth grade. It includes high-, middle- and low-learners,” Stewart said. “The majority of the kids who have signed up for (2006-2007) are kids whose parents are very involved. They are good academic kids with almost no behavior problems. The common element is that every one of their parents is involved and checks on them.”
Stewart said he first thought of the idea about two years ago, after coming to Westside from Northwest Whitfield High School five years ago.
“A teacher came to me about lack of participation in mixed-gender P.E. classes. We looked into coming up with all-boys and all-girls P.E. classes,” Stewart said. “Participation skyrocketed when boys and girls didn’t have to worry about being embarrassed.”
The program this fall will include gender-specific academic classes but not P.E. and arts classes. Band, chorus, art, P.E. and foreign languages will be taught as coeducational “connections classes.”
Stewart said he and his staff attended national education conferences and began reading books, primarily by Michael Gurian, a 25-year expert in gender-based teaching and author of books on child development such as “The Minds of Boys” (www.MichaelGurian.com). Stewart then began contacting systems that use a single-gender structure, such as the Madisonville, Ky., school district.
“What we learned is that boys and girls have different learning styles. Boys tend to do better when allowed to be more mobile,” Stewart said. “Research also shows boys do well in learning groups of four or more, and they are more visual learners.”
Stewart said girls tend to learn better when there is an emotional attachment to the lesson. Teenage girls also have a genetic advantage, he said, because their brains have more “connecting bundles” of synapses and, therefore, better blood flow.
“Students who are getting low grades and struggling often see dropping out as a way to feel (better) about themselves,” Stewart said. “What we’re saying is, let’s use a learning style that’s good for them, rather than one that causes them to struggle.”
Lisa Stevens, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and her husband, David, operate a clinic in Dalton. Lisa attended an informational meeting for parents at Westside, since two of their four children attend there. It turned out the Stevens’ children are ineligible for the new classes since they are members of the ALPHA program.
“I’ve not done enough research on the topic to give a professional opinion, but Dr. Stewart seems very committed to it and to doing anything he can to help his students,” Lisa Stevens said. “It’s certainly worth a try. Nothing is a panacea, and this won’t be either. But I think there’s some merit to it. Boys do learn differently from girls, so if you can tailor your teaching style, you should.”
Richard Schoen, director of student services for Whitfield County Schools, said males, in particular, need assistance without neglecting the female population.
“Female students have become the majority in colleges, in medical schools, law schools and master’s in business administration classes,” Schoen said. “The majority of discipline students in our schools are male. The majority of our dropouts are male. If you look at your honor rolls from our schools, most of them are female. If we continue like this, it’s just not healthy for our country. The danger, over a period of time, is that we’re creating a society of white-collar females and blue-collar males.”
Stewart said 10 teachers will make up academic “teaching teams,” of two or three teachers each, that will tutor students in the program. Most of these teachers are categorized as “highly qualified” in multiple academic areas so they can teach more than one subject during the school year.
“We’re starting on a small scale, only on a trial basis, and with parental permission. We hope to get the results we think we’re going to get and that some parents will become more comfortable,” Stewart said. “But no parents at McCallie or GPS (Girls Preparatory School, both private schools in Chattanooga) worry that their children are being socially (handicapped). There are so many avenues for social interaction outside of school.”
Billy Fairs, public affairs director at The McCallie School, is also a member of the Class of 1990.
“We started more than 100 years ago as an all-boys school, and our founder’s wife started GPS. We think the good aspects of an all-boys environment outweighs the bad,” Fairs said. “A single-sex environment creates more openness and a better willingness to be tender as a male, which tends to be frowned upon. You don’t have ‘showing off’ in a group of guys as you would in a class with females, which creates fewer distractions.”
McCallie’s faculty also has about four times as many males as females; experts say the teaching style of men better corresponds to the more “active” learning style of boys. Fairs said single-gender classes also take away the fear of answering questions in class.
“You don’t have to worry so much about being humiliated or being picked on because something you say is wrong,” he said. “Boys then tend to be more assertive and open; you don’t have the back of the classroom filling up because it’s no longer particularly cool to ‘not care.’ Single-sex classrooms take away the ‘apathy is cool’ mentality.”
Stewart said future test scores will determine if the program will continue.
“We’re hoping this will take off. We won’t continue the program if it doesn’t show success, but I think we’ve seen enough evidence that it’s worth attempting,” he said. “I’ve already been getting calls from other schools that have heard about what we’re doing. I hope we can become a model for our system and others. I’d love to see us grow into a predominately gender-based middle school.”
Boy Problems
• Boys receive up to 70 percent of all Ds and Fs given to students
• 80 percent of all high school dropouts are boys
• Boys create 90 percent of classroom discipline problems
• Millions of American boys are on Ritalin and other behavior-control drugs
• 45 percent of college students are boys
• 75 percent of learning-disabled students are boys
— Source: Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens, authors of “The Wonder of Boys”
I think they call this childhood. You know, being children.
"mixed-gender P.E. classes"
Had that when I was back in school... jocks and nerds...
Boys were gross and weird 'till I was 14. Then, all of a sudden, they were really cute and I had to get me one. My mom, ninetysomething, says the same went for her. Same old same old.
I prefer . . . I think it was Mark Twain's method. He wanted to keep them in barrels with a small hole for food and water. When they turned 18, he planned on plugging the hole.
I got the same impression.
From the article:
the teaching style of men better corresponds to the more “active” learning style of boys.
So lets forego math, science, or any real cerebral exercises. Boys just need to learn a trade is what I got from this tripe.
It was discrimination when there were men only organizations.
But it is not discrimination when they want to separate the sexes.
BTW, I was reading at a college level by the time I was in third grade. I could out read anyone in school, be it boys or girls.
Then you misunderstood it. Boys have the same classes, they just get the lessons in a manner more conducive to male learning patterns. Probably more "hands-on" and interactive. (Not a teacher - just trying to interpret what "being more mobile" means.)
If the mentality is there, the segregated classes will only artificially suppress the ‘apathy is cool’ mindset.
Once upon a time, it was males who excelled at academics and females lagged.
There has been a shift over the last couple of decades to girl's learning styles instead of boy's learning styles, which had been the normative...and the guys suffered because of it.
Now women outnumber men in college.
And they ask, why are boys doing badly in school?
I personally believe both males and females benefit from sex segregated classes. Teenage courting behavior gets taken out of the equation and you can target your approach in ways that doesn't rob Peter to pay Pauline.
"So lets forego math, science, or any real cerebral exercises. Boys just need to learn a trade is what I got from this tripe.
Umm no. This program caters to the different learning style of boys. Boys also have a much more challenging time sitting still in a classroom for hours at a time.
I guess. However, I am very poor at "hands on" (even was as a kid). I excelled when I had a book in hand or was able to work a math problem.
Depends on the boy I guess. I spent hours in the library reading in lieu of gym class. (My school gave a choice, which I gleefully took)
To this day I love to read (have close to 10,000 books here) and solve problems.
We shouldn't be catering to them. We should be punishing them.
It is interesting that you write about reading as if you were very visual but you grew up to be a listener, if radio astronomer is an indication. Do you listen with your eyes?
BUMP FOR LATER.
“I wanted to do it so nosy boys will stay out of my business,” said Emma Jones, 13, a rising seventh-grader. “They stink like cologne.”
Oh yeah Emma! Well.. uh, uh... you have Cooties!
:-)
Actually, I "listen" with computers. :-)
I do relish my quiet time. Just sitting and thinking. (Usually about something I read) LOL!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.