Posted on 02/20/2010 8:27:08 PM PST by AJKauf
As a volunteer in my daughter’s kindergarten class, I was asked to help children write a “story” (a few words) to illustrate their pictures. Only one girl needed my writing help; only one boy could write for himself. Nearly all the boys seemed to be a full year behind nearly all the girls in their ability to pay attention, follow directions, control frustrations, sit still, handle a pencil or crayon and do what used to be considered first-grade work.
As reading and writing are pushed down to earlier ages, boys are struggling harder to meet higher expectations, writes Richard Whitmire, a former USA Today reporter, in Why Boys Fail.
“Each year since 1988 the gap between boys’ and girls’ reading skills has widened a bit more,” Whitmire writes. Boys aren’t wired for early verbal skills — and teachers aren’t trained in “boy-friendly” techniques to help them catch up.
Boys are asked to do too much too soon — and labeled hyperactive or bipolar or autistic if they act like little boys, writes psychologist Anthony Rao in The Way of Boys.....
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
Did you ever see the counter T-shirt?
A woman without a man is a barren womb and a lonely life
There was one girl in my college that would wear that upon occasion. The lezbos and femi-nazis would be all over her, they would have gotten in her face had it not been for a few of us guys around.
I’ve thought about it and decided that this may not be a joke!
Uh, we're talking first and second grades here. Most low-grade teachers have been women forever (there are actually more male low-grade teachers today than back in the 1950's). Most male teachers in those days were in junior and senior high schools (where they ARE needed). And kids (both sexes) learned to read and write without problems.
The problem isn't the sex of the teachers, it is the change in teaching methods, from stuff that works (phonics), to "ed biz" politically correct mush that turns out uneducated dolts, and the failure to allow any kind of real discipline for misbehavior.
Case in point. A young adult (apparently just out of high school) was canvassing our neighborhood looking for part-time work. I asked him to leave his name and phone number, and his writing on the resultant paper looked like a first-graders scrawl.
This, we were told by the proctors, was in order to break down stereotypes.
WHAT NORMAL MAN WOULD WANT TO DO THAT..?
As Lenin said, “Some ideas are so stupid that only an intellectual could believe them...”
Well, first of all, try not to write it off as simply being a stupid thing you were told to do. They had a reason for it, and it wasn't some stupid little breaking down stereotypes reason. They could have done that by showing you pictures / video interviews of macho guys who were gay, feminine women who were lesbians, etc,
How long ago did this happen?
What would have happened if you did not comply?
Did you discuss this afterwards with the other guys in the class?
Please don't assume that they are simply being stupid because they are intellectuals. Try to always think of the real reason they are doing this.
The "Breaking down stereotypes" is b.s. - they were trying to change how you think into accepting being gay as normal.
It's just as wrong to force straight people to act gay as it is to force LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) people to act straight.
One can be gay or whatever in modern society and it's mostly a non-issue. Most people know enough not to harass and/or assault other people, so there really isn't a need to keep pushing this stuff on straight people other than to try to humiliate the straight people into compliance.
I am very sorry that you and the other guys were made to have to go through this - it really was an exercise in being desensitized to being gay, to try to get you to accept it as being normal, and that any resistance by you was futile...
“Just continue assuring him he’s not only OK, but a desireable entity.”
Ladies, you want to help us guys out, do this! It’s much appreciated. Can’t tell how many times I get frosted out for it by the feminists. :)
At least 5% of the population is divergent (where the question is the starting point, and their thoughts expand out from there). Some of the greatest thinkers in the world are divergent. Unfortunately, the standard classroom environment is the WORST POSSIBLE PLACE for these brilliant minds. They need an open learning environment - the least restrictive environment possible...
Thanks for expalining that. Makes a lot of sense.
I was lucky, I had good teachers in elementary. Always remember in grade 4 when we had our reading tests and I graded out, well they weren’t really sure. The test only went up so far. :)
Basically got to read whatever I wanted all year!
What did you do?
I don't see what the problem is. I wouldn't mind telling people that you're gay.
“In those early years, we did school differently. We did 10-15 minutes on, 5 minutes off (lots of breaks). We used a hands-on approach after I discovered he was a kinesthetic learner. He would jump on a trampoline and spell his spelling words. Walk around the room reading a book, etc. “
That’s exactly what we did for our boys. I remember my oldest would run around the table as I was reading. At first, it irritated me but everytime I asked him what I had said, he narrated back almost word for word. That convinced me and I never made my boys stay still.
Praise the Lord!
My 9 year old son would love to read that story!
I tell people that you are gay all the time.
This is really sad. I’m glad I sent my kids to non-public grade school. They got a much better education in the basics that served them well in later years.
Actually, there is, but it usually involves a turkey baster.
Doesn't sound like your son is ADD. Sounds like he's divergent.
Let me ask you this, when he was younger did he ask a thousand questions?
I didn’t know I was being tested to see how far I could go. After 3 hours I was tired of the “game”. I might have scored higher if I knew the objective.
Most likely both ADD and divergent. The ADD meds have made a huge difference, and it definitely runs in the family. I wouldn’t say he asked a huge number of questions, but he was always very bright, very verbal and good with numbers. His intuitive understanding of things has often surprised us, whether mathematical or aspects of human nature. (He can also be quite oblivious to convention or human interaction). When he was about 3 or 4, he understood the concept of fractions, talking about half of a fourth and knowing what it was without knowing what it was called. He also talked about doing things in sets of 4. These days he gets frustrated sometimes because he’ll intuitively grasp a new concept in physics, but then struggle to understand the stepwise teaching that follows. He gets marked down on his math homework for not showing enough work. He’s definitely not a typical linear thinker, but then neither is the rest of the family.
It's not uncommon for extremely bright individuals to feel more comfortable with numbers and science, because they are predictable, constant, logical. People - quite simply - aren't.
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