More news of boys being oppressed, villified, and ostracized in schools. Your thoughts on this?

Question

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/27/earlyshow/main4130288.shtml

This female teacher had all the students vote on whether or not this kid should be kicked out of class.

I've always said that the current school system and classroom structure is suited more for girls. Boys have proven to excel in their study and learning, when the learning is coupled with *ACTIVITY*. Boys learn better when they're actually physically involved in their activities. Boys learn better when educational play is coupled with their learning activity. Girls learn better by sitting, reading, and listening. This is why I support schools segregated by gender.

Since the school system is geared for girls, boys are ostracized and diagnosed with "ADD", given drugs, and abused by sexist women teachers that have her students humiliate and embarrass the male student through voting.

Answer 1

This has absolutely nothing to do with sexism or boys vs. girls. This has everything to do with insensitivity to developmental problems. It could just as easily have been done by a male teacher.

Answer 2

I think you've got a chip on your shoulder and grasping for something that's simply not there.

Fact is that human beings have different learning styles. This is based on personality/culture. If girls are subdued and activity is not encouraged or even discouraged then they may learn in environments like that, but the same applies to boys. I personality am a kinesthetic learner. Why not divide schools in to the the 3 learning styles?That would be more relevant.

Answer 3

The thought police/community enforcers of ladies' sciences have eliminated my capacity to think freely.  I am now a eunuch and lack the ability to formulate rational thoughts.

Mission accomplished, ladies!!!

Answer 4

In the case of the boy being kicked out of his class, I think it was because of his dissability rather than his gender. However, you said "Boys have proven to excel in their study and learning, when the learning is coupled with *ACTIVITY*. Boys learn better when they're actually physically involved in their activities. Boys learn better when educational play is coupled with their learning activity." You are making a huge generelazation. Everyone is different. Everyone learns differently. In fact, my math class did a test to see how people learn (kinetic, the kind you described, visual, musically, listening, reading, or nature). EVERYONE got different answers and EVERYONE had different ways of learning. Maybe a solution to your problem is to do lessons with both phisical and listening/reading activities. You just can't generalize like that. Everyone is different, like the article shows, and boys don't learn a CERTAIN way and girls don't learn a CERTAIN way. By using segregation, you are just creating more problems for the 30 or so percent of boys/girls who don't learn well according to the criteria you mentioned.

I do, however, agree that many teachers expect more from girls and almost can't believe a boy can suceed. I am an A+ student, but teachers make a HUGE deal out of the fact that I am smart, willing to raise my hand and anser questions, write with neat handwriting, and do my homework. They are kind of biased and I wish they would just applaude my hard work instead of being surprised and making a big deal out of it infront of the entire class.

Answer 5

I kept this link from another question (so if you remember it, that's why. Sorry.)

It suggests boys are not suffering, but certain economic groups are. BUT you don't mention that. You don't consider inter-city schools and you don't mention possible race/immigrant effect. ALL of these have a worse effect than gender. So are you just trying to prove your prejudices here? Because that's confirmation bias (also, you're relying on media bias. How often do the show stories like "school doing ok"? It's not news when everything works)

Answer 6

I think this is proof that people who are "differently abled" are discriminated against, not that boys in general are.

Answer 7

Linking one thing to another here is not called for, as the specific act itself is egregious enough.

J. What Say you to Katleen Parkers scathing comments on the AAUW,s report? Probable nothing, as you social scientists always accept what endorses your preconceptions rather readily.

Answer 8

She must be a fan of Big Brother.

Ridiculous.

Answer 9

yeah, and boys are supposed to do better in exams than girls, and girls do better in coursework than exams > hence another reason for boys failing

apart from that this argument breaks down when you consider that exams still contribute to a far greater proportion of the overall grade for nearly all subjects both for gcses and a levels

the grading system is skewed in favour of boys > and girls still do better

see the problem with simplistic thinking?

Answer 10

In the days "before feminism" he would have been taken to the principal's office and would have been paddled or strapped once on both open palms with a thick leather strap.  There was no ADHD and kids behaved much better.  Disobedience just wasn't tolerated. Correlation?

Would you like that better?

I only ask because many people would like to re-introduce corporal punishment into the schools:  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

The gender of the teacher plays no role - remember there are many times more female teachers than male teachers.  This incident is hardly representative of all female teachers.  I agree she crossed the line.

Answer 11

I read this story yesterday and I was simply horrified!!! I have a son with Asperger's and I would gladly raise enough h**l to have this teacher's license revoked!

Answer 12

Uh, that's BOY, not BOYS.

It's ONE case. ONE teacher (who ought to be fired and ostracized from human society, I grant you).

The rest of the boys in that very class weren't oppressed, villified, or ostacized at all.

It was his autism, and how he manifested it, that lead to the apalling treatment he recieved, NOT his s*x.

So, your case is entirely bogus.

It's simply not true that ALL boys learn in exactly the same way, or that ALL girls do, either.

PEOPLE vary.

As someone who's devoted much of her life to educational reform, I support and aplaud every attempt to address the varieties of learning styles of ALL students.

But you're stereotyping here.

Many boys learn through words; many boys learn visually; many girls learn visually; many girls learn kinesthetically.

It's true that schools have tended to ignored the fact that young critters need to move around, and be noisy; pretending, instead, that they are merely short adults.

But that doesn't mean that ALL boys are currently oppressed, villified, and ostracized in schools.

In fact, schools are getting better at accomodating the variety of learning styles, and the need of all students to be actively engaged in their learning.

There are ways in which schools more consistently discriminate against girls -- such as calling more often on boys; boys monopolizing lab equipment.

Answer 13

This is not because he is male, it is because the teacher is a ***** from h**l.

Also, he is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, not ADD. It is a real condition, and not just "being a boy". It is diagnosed more often in males than females, but it has been theorised that part of the reason for this is that its pattern of expression in males leads to more aggression, thus leading people to seek help for more males.

To reiterate: it's not to do with his s*x. It is because the teacher is a bully.

Answer 14

Wow you act as if this happened because he was a boy and that's not the case.  Was it horrible? Yes! Was it because he was a boy? No!

My niece was kicked out of kindergarten because she has Asperger's syndrome.  She is now home schooled; which everyone in my family agrees was the best choice as schools suck for kids to begin with let alone those with disabilities...

So I think your theory that this is sexist fails.  As I know lots of females who get bad grades, drops out of school, or join gangs.

Answer 15

I completely agree, the education system is favoring girls over boys.

@J: Your source is bias and lack creditability. That article was written by two women and one of them is a women's studies senior scientist

From your article:

""Rosalind Chait Barnett is a senior scientist at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.""

Answer 16

"Boys and men suffer from more sexism and gender expectations than girls and women."

Yeah, except most of us don't really care so long as we got food and are kept sexually relieved.

ADD

More boys than girls drop out of schools and join gangs.....how do you justify your stance on promotion of the male gender when you just threw down some facts that belittle it?  That is the same as saying, "more women need help because they are more likely to murder a child than a man."  Silly argument, dude.