School discipline data show guys got in trouble three times as often as girls

Submitted by anthony on Wed, 2009-11-18 02:32

Article here. Excerpt:

'Across the Juneau School District, 75 percent of all principal-level discipline occurred with a male student in the 2008-09 school year, according to data from district Director of Student Services Dave Newton.

Juneau-Douglas High School guidance counselor Frank Coenraad said one reason may be differing levels of school connectedness.

"I don't want to just say 'Boys will be boys,'" he said. "I feel that the more connected the student is at the high school, less in terms of behavioral issues will arise."
...
In the district's recent 2008-2009 student achievement report, girls outperformed boys in reading, writing and math. Boys outperformed girls in science.

While nationwide reports in recent years point to a changing gender achievement gap between boys and girls, the independent think tank Education Sector says the hype is overrated in its report, "The Evidence Suggests Otherwise: The Truth about Boys and Girls."

"The real story is not bad news about boys doing worse; it's good news about girls doing better," it says.'

Like0 Dislike0

Comments

1. Boys treated more roughly and given less attention than girls from infancy, considered more trouble than girls, and treated as such. (Age 0 - 3)
2. Taking all this in, they learn to entertain themselves and learn things for themselves since fewer people seem to want to deal with them. (Age 3 - 8)
3. As they get a bit older they realize that they can learn to be on their own, as much as it hurts to do so, and that other boys, from the same place of hurt and rejection, are less communicative than girls. So while they like to do some things with other boys, such as play ball, etc., they are easily distracted by the girls. All the while, they continue to get bombarded with grrrrl power message at school and from the media. Add to that their broken homes, divorces and child custody veteran status, and the not-so-subtle reminders that as boys they are any number of other things that are less desirable than girls, and you get to the next phase. (Age 8 - 12)
4. Adolescence. Wow, all that by the age of 12 or 13! So now, hormones kick in. Boys are told that their "bad thoughts" are not right, while girls are told that it's OK for them to be "sexual beings", etc. etc., since as we know, this is empowering. Girls start showing their newly-forming physiques while boys are told explicitly not to look at the girls. Any conflicts of interest between a boy and girl are viewed very much in favor of the girl or her side of things. The isolation continues. (Age 12 - 16)
5. By now, thee is a minority of boys who are especially socially adept or good at sports and have managed somehow at least to find ways to distract themselves from their toxic environment. Another handful will be natural "eggheads" and have an engrossing interest in academics. (They may not get into the college of their capacity because they can't get scholarship money due to that little problem they have being male, but at least they have their curious minds and high IQs to help them keep from going totally nuts-- even if they do find themselves stuffed occasionally into a locker by one of the boys from the first group I mentioned.) So those two categories of boys account for maybe 10% of the high school boys' population who can make it out with their hides somewhat intact.

The other 90%? They don't matter. They can't play sports like junior major-league athletes or recite pi to the 20th digit. So lacking a vagina, they are just left there.

No wonder high schools have discipline problems with boys these days. If I were going to high school today, I'd be a discipline problem, too.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2009-11-18 05:09

"The real story is not bad news about boys doing worse; it's good news about girls doing better," it says. --

Would that theory apply to boys higher proficiency in math, science, and engineering? Shouldn't we celebrate their achievements?

It seems when boys do better, its because girls are discriminated against. When girls do better, its the result of superior skills.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by anthony on Wed, 2009-11-18 05:18

This is yet another reason we need to re-engineer masculinity. Apparently boys learn this behaviour from their violent dads.

Are you guys tired of my sarcasm yet?
-ax

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by axolotl on Wed, 2009-11-18 09:07