School Boys

[astra_nomer]

So, apparently, a student at a New England high school is claiming gender discrimination. The interesting thing is, the student is a boy. A white, middle-class male, suing for discrimination.

Certainly it's true that more women are entering college these days than men. But shouldn't we be saying, "You Go Girl!" instead of "ZOMG!! Save the boys!!!"

I cannot believe that education has changed so dramatically in this country over the last 10 or even 20 years that it's suddenly become biased toward girls. The educational system in this country was originally just for white males. Just 40 years ago, Harvard University did not allow women in some of its libraries. At the same time, the majority of elementary school teachers over the last century or more have been women, and while I won't rant about that issue now, it didn't seem to have hurt the legions of boys who were educated by them and went on to become successful men within the patriarchy.

Yes, it's true that boys have more behavioral issues than girls, and that will affect their educational opportunities. But is this really more of an issue today than in the past? Has boyhood really changed that much?

I recall being one of just a handful of girls in my high school science and math classes. I recall that when my calculus teacher handed out M&Ms to highest achievers in her class, that my candy was sometimes stolen when I turned my back, and at least one student complained that the girls always got the awards, even though we were vastly outnumbered by the boys.

Now I'm the mother of two boys myself. But I expect them to exert self-discipline in school. I expect them to do their best with their studies. I will help find opportunities within the educational system for them to get ahead. I will not tolerate them making excuses for themselves by saying they were discriminated against. If I've managed to succeed against the odds, they can too.

Comments

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

So I found the Globe article on this very interesting because a lot of what the boy was saying matched perfectly with what a guest speaker we had earlier in the year -- an expert on gender differences in the brain -- said. (And, yes, before either of us gets too carried away, she was happy to admit that these are average gender differences and need not hold for any particular person. I actually found her very credible, which surprised me.) Anyway, yes, she said exactly what he said about school rewarding the sort of sitting-still, rule-following, conformist behavior that girls are much more suited to (on average) than boys. It made me wonder whether he is in any way up on educational research or whether these were his own observations.

Of course, then they quoted his lawyer dad saying that appropriate redress was retroactively awarding all boys higher GPAs because they really wanted to go to college. Gag me with a spoon.

I think it works both ways; there are elements of standard education that discriminate, on average, against boys, and others that discriminate, on average, against girls. Individual self-discipline and aptitude is generally much more important.

[desireearmfeldt]

Yeah, the group-mind here seems to have concluded so far that school favors a) sitting still and behaving (quiet/shy/calm/obedient people) and b) speaking up a lot (loud/energetic/confident/aggressive people). Put a gender on those profiles or not as you like, but if a is favored over b and b over a... I don't know what that means in terms of 'discrimnation.' :)

I agree that school *does* favor both sets of behaviors. Which you get shafted for not doing undoubtedly depends on the particular school and teacher, as well as on the rest of your personality/behavior.

(Me, I went to a co-ed school with much less sitting still and following orders than probably most of you. And with a lot of personal attention--though also with enough license that I think the people who potentially got screwed there were the ones who were not sufficiently self-disciplined and/or interested in learning.)

[shumashi.livejournal.com]

I actually found her very credible

Oooo, references?

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Dangit, now I have to remember her name! ;) Good thing I have Google to help me...
...
Abigail Norfleet James.

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

A bit off-topic perhaps, but my post so I'm allowed to do that, right?

...rewarding the sort of sitting-still, rule-following, conformist behavior that girls are much more suited to (on average) than boys

Isn't the military all about rule-following and conformist behavior? Not so much the sitting-still, I suppose, but anyway... And yet the military is very much male-dominated....

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

It'a about conformist behavor imposed by a strong alpha (male in this case). Elementary school not so much.

A discussion in another forum reminded me that schools have cut recess and PE significantly as part of the new movement toward standards. I could definitely see that as something that reduced the academic achievement of some boys; I don't think it's reasonable to ask any eight year old to sit still for the better part of eight hours.

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

Recess and PE are definitely necessary, especially in elementary school. I mean, look at the fuss over obesity among schoolchildren!

Much as I hate the idea of becoming a "soccer mom," shuttling my kids to and from sports practice and the like, I think I will have to sign them up for after-school sports activities just so that they can work off some of that excess energy. Better then having them bounce around the house...

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, good point. But on the other hand, as people note...if I could make my students drop and give me fifty, or wake them up at 4 am to make them run five miles, or call them worthless little feces, or any number of other drill-sergeant-type behaviors not actually within my teacherly authority, it would be a pretty different environment. I am also led to believe from hearing about people's experiences in the military that recruits don't start out good at rule-following; the whole point of basic is to break them so that they can be rebuilt in more conformist, rule-following ways. I think there's compensating machismo in there that appeals to a lot of boys, but I think most girls are too sensible to go in for it ;). Or just don't need to be broken to follow orders.

[ilai]

My impression (which might be wrong) is that the military uses behavioral modification (unfreezing/movement/refreezing) during boot camp to make recruits more rule-following and conformist. But at the same time, the military also seems to reward aggression, confidence, competition, and energy.

[lokiect.livejournal.com]

I may be going over the top on this, but I get the feeling that one of the differences is that there the men don't feel like they are being girly by acting like military men. And like ian said, there's the brainwashing process- in order to be accepted in the military, you do follow the rules. breaking them gets both you and your peers into trouble. To be accepted in school, you have to convince the other kids that you're cool and that isn't always by doing well or behaving at all.

course, I don't think there's anything about following the rules that is inherently a feminine thing to do (but then, I do have to remember that I'm weird and my data points are also likely weird). I mean, maybe girls tend to be subtler about it... maybe? ::shrug:::