Why Boys Are Failing in an Educational System Stacked Against Them

Submitted by anthony on Tue, 2011-06-28 19:10

Article here. Excerpt:

'According to Whitmire, children are forced to use literacy skills much earlier than in the past, and boys develop these skills later than girls. In the world of "Kindergarten is the new first grade," boys are struggling mightily to keep up. When it comes to writing, the gender divide is even greater. NCLB and our hyper-focus on standardized test scores is worsening, not ameliorating, the academic struggles of boys, and subsequently increasing the numbers of boys who turn off to school and eventually drop out.

According to Gurian, boys learn by doing and by moving their bodies through space. The more emphasis is placed on the development of early reading skills, and the less emphasis is placed on a healthy amount of movement and experiential learning, the more disadvantageous our schools will be for males.'

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Even MRA's when talking about education are missing one of the key components in the K-12 educational system: Guidance Councilors.

I remember in High School I met with the Guidance Councilors twice(once at the Hazleton Area School District and another time at the Allentown Area School District, both were female).

In both instances I was blatantly discriminated against.

At the Hazleton Area School District I waited 15+ minutes while the Guidance Councilor was talking to a female student about class selection. She was stressing to the student about choosing the right classes yadda yadda yadda etc.

When my turn came up she rushed me through in under 5 minutes. Back then I was really shy and weak willed. I only wanted to take an elective that was semi hands on(was interested in the Robotics elective). I figured if I bombed it, it would only be for half the school year so not too big of a loss. I got pushed into an engineering all year class that I just wasn't qualified for and I held deep reservations about it. When I expressed my concern she said "you can just go to a community college for two years then transfer".

Well after I tried really really hard in the class and bombed it, it totally demoralized me. Because I would of got first honors(only got second honors before). And I was trapped in a class where the teacher was too laid back(only had two Quiz's a quarter) and I just stopped going to school because of it(which resulted in me failing a quarter because I missed too much time even though my technical grade in every other class was A's and B's).

I ended up moving for my senior year(moved in with my mom) because I was just so bitter at a sub-conscious level over it I wanted out of the District.

Well, when I went to the Allentown Area School District to set up classes the female Guidance Councilor I had to wait another 15+ minutes while she was drilling a female student about the need to be serious and yadda, yadda, yadda.

When my turn came up she looked at me and literally said "What do you want". She didn't even bother talking with me. And in under 4 minutes handed me a class schedule that was totally beneath my abilities.I ended up becoming despondent over the whole thing leading me to dropping out and just getting my GED.

We need to demand a study to determine how long Guidance Councilors spend with each student and a break down of race, gender and if possible socio-economic class.

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Submitted by Korathin on Thu, 2011-06-30 05:21