In a sad way, I'm temporarily relieved by this information; I thought only I was losing the boys. I see less academic confidence in my boys, which I believe leads to their acting out as way to detract attention from the frustrating tasks at hand. Out of all my students I worried about potentially failing the writing TAKS, 85 percent were boys. Of the four students I've referred to the office this year, three have been boys. All three fourth graders sent to our district's disciplinary school this year (for 20 school days of doing book work in an isolated cubicle) have been boys. Two-thirds of our fourth-grade dyslexic students are boys. And the list goes on. Maybe public school as it is today just doesn't work for boys.
The question is: What works? Something will work. I hope researchers are studying this right now: What works for boys? Why is the current educational system failing them? These would make great thesis topics for someone in graduate school.
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leitakma3y/ / CC BY 2.0
What might work for boys would be to swing the attention to them for a few decades, the way it's been centered on girls. When we started the "Take your Daughter to Work Day" celebration, it was fine, at first. But year after year, mothers and fathers were taking their daughters to work. What about their sons? Is it a genetic disposition that makes boys innately understand what work it is their parents do, but not girls? Cutting back on recess so no one gets to run around and let off steam? The tip of the what doesn't work for boys iceberg.
ReplyDeleteYou said it right - what works for boys? A disciplinary action that puts them in isolation in a booth and makes them study there for 20 days? Give the administrators in your district "Holes." At least the boys got to be outside. Geez ... I'm sorry. But poor boys. Let's start thinking about what works for boys.