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Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

theatlantic.com

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Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#51

Post by bitwize »

speeder wrote: post #39
eli_gottlieb wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, to have grown up in an education system where homework and in-class participation aren't counted as some huge part of the grade!

class participation and whatnot counted, and I had not a problem with that, when a teacher asked a direct question and I was not sleeping deeply enough (if I was half-sleeping and heard the question I woke up) I would usually be the first to reply. Only later I figured this was bad idea (here in Brazil at least, the norm is to noone ever try to reply to the teacher, as a kind of weird social convention, and since I a…

Feels for you, bro.

I don't know if Brazilian education has improved since Feynman wrote this: http://v.cx/2010/04/feynman-brazil-education

I suspect not by much.

Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#52

Post by jared314 »

sarchertech wrote: post #23

School is half education and half babysitting. The problem is that schools aren't aware of that, and they try to cram too much learning/work into a day at school. Kids just don't have the attention span. College isn't taught this way. Colleges realize that even young adults can't handle 40 hours a week of continual instruction, why do we do this kids can? I think the reason, is that we're always behind other countrie…

> The problem is that schools aren't aware of that

I think the schools, and the teachers, are very aware of their "half babysitting" role. The public schools, in the US, are paid based on heads-per-day, with some restrictions on minimum days and test scores (depending on the state). They get money for providing services to the children. So, as with all incentive plans, the system gets gamed.

> What 6 or 7 year old can possibly sit still and study for 5 or 6 hours each day?

The ones society wants to succeed in school. Like sports, not everyone has the ability required to succeed at higher levels. If someone hadn't forced me to stop watching TV when I was young, I would be in front of it right now. This says nothing about their ability in reality, just in playing the school game.

Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#53

Post by mahyarm »

speeder wrote: post #24

Although I was a generally calm student (I am introverted and not into causing mayhem or attracting attention), I never copied from the blackboard, don't did my homework, slept during classes, or instead kept drawing, or later writing ASM code or toying with physics formulas, or I just outright spent my time chatting about video games with whoever was nearby. Every time I had a new teacher, my parents were called int…

To be honest, it's probably good you fidget constantly just for blood flow. Sitting still all day gets you airplane traveler afflictions like deep vein thrombosis.

Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#54

Post by cafard »

joonix wrote: post #40

Are there any private all-boys[1] schools that embrace this side of childhood? Look at tiger cubs and what not: they play, they bounce around, they fight, they figure out the world around them through investigation and exploration. I spent so much of my time outside as a kid, but I also spent a lot of time inside on the computer. Both were amazing worlds where your imagination could run wild; especially in the early…

A friend reported that The German School outside Washington, DC, (private, predominately but not exclusively male) has the kids in some of the lowest grades spend most of their time running around. Now, I don't remember whether this applied as high up as 1st grade.

Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#55

Post by parennoob »

One of the things they used to do for this at my school (in another country) was to have 50 minutes of compulsory physical activity or drills in the morning, at least three out of five days. (This was excluding separate gym/physical training classes.)

I feel like this could go a long way into giving boys an outlet for their physical energy. I definitely know that even as one of the most talkative and fidgety kids in class, I used to fidget a lot less if I had returned from a bout of running or whatever.

Also, I am somewhat acquainted with some of the teachers in the US school system, and have found their knowledge about the subjects they are supposed to be teaching (specially science) to be severely subpar. Kids can often perceive this very accurately, and will respect a teacher less if he or she seems to be unsure or vague regarding what they are teaching.

Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#56

Post by cafard »

During the baby boom there appeared to be an odd dynamic at work: in the primary grades, the neater, more docile girls were the teachers' favorites and got the better grades. Somewhere around or after puberty, they started to fall back behind the boys. Some of this was certainly socially motivated; a cousin said that boys didn't like to date girls they thought smarter. Some of it may have come from the teachers.

Just my two cents..

Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#57

Post by Alex3917 »

"While Reichert and Hawley's research was conducted in all-boys schools, these lessons can be used in all classrooms, with both boys and girls."

Not true, research shows that girls do worse when their performance is evaluated in relation to others (competitively), as opposed to when their performance is evaluated against an objective standard.

Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#58

Post by hcarvalhoalves »

pekk wrote: post #27
sarchertech wrote: post #23

School is half education and half babysitting. The problem is that schools aren't aware of that, and they try to cram too much learning/work into a day at school. Kids just don't have the attention span. College isn't taught this way. Colleges realize that even young adults can't handle 40 hours a week of continual instruction, why do we do this kids can? I think the reason, is that we're always behind other countrie…

Historically many, many children have sat still at school and behaved themselves. That doesn't mean that others should be stigmatized, but it's not like this is impossible and unprecedented.

Yeah, with the aid of a paddle.

Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#59

Post by [deleted] »

sarchertech wrote: post #23

School is half education and half babysitting. The problem is that schools aren't aware of that, and they try to cram too much learning/work into a day at school. Kids just don't have the attention span. College isn't taught this way. Colleges realize that even young adults can't handle 40 hours a week of continual instruction, why do we do this kids can? I think the reason, is that we're always behind other countrie…

[deleted]

Re: Stop Penalizing Boys for Not Being Able to Sit Still at School

#60

Post by DamnYuppie »

I am surprised to see that none of the comments really comment or reflect upon the issue this article brings up, which is that for boys to thrive they need to be taught differently. If we can actually create ciriculum that allows them to excel why would we not do this? I know that the main point against it would be that young girls perhaps would not thrive in such a system. Yet I think we have to find a balance between them if we want true equality and what is best for all of our children.

Mayhaps it is time to reaccess if we should not have separate classes for boys and girls..food for thought...

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