Teaching Girls and Boys Differently - Psychologist Doctor Tells Why Divergences Run Deep

Zenit News Agency ^ | July 8, 2005

[ChocChipCookie]

ping

[NYer]

letting boys be boys

An excellent summary! It seems that over the past few decades, boys have been 'expected' to act like girls. When I attended elementary school, the boys settled arguments in the school yard. Now they are expected to sit quietly at their desks, like the girls. Kudos to a psychlogist who "gets it".

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[SteveMcKing]

Psychobabbling freak. Boys and girls are different. No sh--.

Maybe if he had a normal relationship with a woman, she'd tell him all about it.

[TASMANIANRED]

Duh,

Now they figure out that the educators pre 1960 had it right.

[A. Pole]

Bump

[filia_san]

maybe even let girls be boys?

Every once in a while, a girl will be born with less "girl traits" and more "boy traits" (or vice versus). This was very true for me. Reading the article made me realize how much more male than female I am. No wonder I don't like having this female body; I feel like it's holding me back. Still, I am very glad that I'm far from being the average woman.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

OHMYGOODNESS!
This is just so politically incorrect, it can't ever be the truth!
Testosterone, the "Great Right Wing Conspiracy!

[festus]

Boys and girls have marked physical ... differences

Thank heavens these experts went to school to learn this.

[wagglebee]

Personally, I believe that the recent trend toward "gender neutral" instruction has resulted in a big increase in teen homosexuality. And I think the whole "soccer culture" has a lot to do with it. When I was a kid, boys played football, baseball and basketball, girls did gymnastics, ballet and cheerleading -- and as a result, we all knew the difference between boys and girls. We didn't really have much interaction with members of the opposite outside of the classroom, there just wasn't a lot of interest until the onset of puberty.

Today all of this is different, boys and girls are always together, and I think this familiarity means that the sexual awareness which comes with pubery is just as likely to be projected toward members of the same gender.

[gidget7]

I read something different in his article. It's unfortunate that today he needs to say this at all, but he does. Teachers expect boys to sit all day and pay attention, and most boys can't. That is a big reason WE had periodic recesses, so boys could burn off some energy! Now they label fidgeting and frustration as attention deficit and want the boys on drugs! The doctor seems to want to go back to the old common sense ways of teaching. And on most of his points he is right on target. I don't think they need to separate boys and girls though.

IMO ALL adolescents have attention deficit! It just goes with the age. And the last things they need is drugs, or to have all these adult sexual situations throw at them, that serve only to peek that attention deficit when it comes to learning anything other than sex. They need a chance to mature first, not have situations shoved down their throats they haven't the ability or maturity to understand.

[fortunecookie]

Let's hope the idea catches (re-catches?) on. It's too bad an entire generation of boys had to suffer or be drugged for things like wiggling in their chairs (no flames, I don't mean those with 'real' problems) or other imagined ills.

I teach a class to 2nd graders, and a few years ago, a year or 2 into the program, I read an article similar to this. It changed everything. Instead of spending time correcting (as we were told to do) or disciplining for things like wiggling or not standing still, I simply switched my expectations and let the 'boys be boys', within our 'rules', of course. We had far fewer disciplinary issues and everyone was happier. And some of the odd behaviors diminished as well. One little guy would repeatedly fall out of his desk. Yes, hard to believe until you see it. I thought he was getting far too much attention for that. After I started more or less ignoring it, the incidences fell by more than half. I decided I could live with that because his class participation and effort increased much more dramatically. We now share this info with the new ccd teachers.

[dhs12345]

Good article.

"...the second- and third-graders were being educated by teachers who did not understand the differences in how boys and girls learn..."

My son is really good in math but has difficulty with creative writing.

Creating writing = expressing himself. Boys and Men have difficulty with this. I don't believe it is because of how we are/were raised either.

Men and women are wired differently -- for their specialized tasks in life. Women -- raising children and maintaining the family; men -- gathering food and resources for the family and defending the family.

There is nothing sexist about it -- it is simply the facts of life.

[gidget7]

Thats called being a Tom Boy, and nothing wrong with that. Girls lost something with the feminist movement. Even Tomboys. They feel guilty too often if they enjoy their femininity and look at as a gift. And they shouldn't, doing that diminishes her self worth.

[TWohlford]

Perhaps now they'll leave the few remaining all-male colleges alone!

I think the list is down to Wabash, Hampden-Sydney and Morehouse.

When the subject comes up, the faculty are always behind the movement to co-ed. I hear that recruiting faculty to these institutions is hampered somewhat due to the liberal faculty biases against all-male eductation.

Conversely, the list of all-female institutions goes on and on, with enthusiastic support of the popular press and liberal faculty.

Tim Wohlford, BA,
Wabash College '84

[lafroste]

Psychobabbling freak. Boys and girls are different. No sh--.

While your sentiment is correct, don't short change the psychobabilist who is, when considering his peer group, venturing into new and heretical realms. Modern educational theory, that has blithly ignored the painflly obvious for the past 40 years, has now so completely lost touch with any semblance of reality that any stab at "getting it right" and not "getting it correct" should be applauded.

Boys and girls are different. I seem to recall that the President of Harvard Univ. was recently crucified for noticing that basic truth.

[Malesherbes]

This just in! Psychologist/doctor reveals that boys and girls are different. We live in a wondrous age. Each day brings a new revelation from our scientists.

[samiam1972]

Althought this wasn't exactly news to me it was still interesting. It describes my son and daughter perfectly!!

[Tax-chick]

Researchers at Boston University noted that almost all drowning victims are male, for example.

I never thought of that.

[Surtur]

Boys and girls are different. I seem to recall that the President of Harvard Univ. was recently crucified for noticing that basic truth.
Yeppers, the ole boy got bit in the arse by his own PC pals. The term "karma" comes to mind.