Gwendolyn Alston Alston 1
Jason Norman
English 111 Are boys treated differently in elementary school than girls?
“Statistically speaking, there are more boy geniuses than there are girl geniuses; if this is true, then why is there a major disparity in achievement between boys versus girls in school?”
(Fioriello 1). In my opinion the disparity lies with some teachers not having enough patience to deal with little boys in the classroom. Nor do they possess proper training to differentiate the fact that; boys are very much different than girls in chemical brain development. Even before my son was born I have always wondered and suspected if boys are treated differently in school than their girl counterparts? This question has been on my mind of years as an afterthought, but once my son entered kindergarten my suspicions were once again aroused. I have always kept abreast of the growing issues of class room disparity among boys and girls; it was always something that interested. Now that I have my son Michael, who by the way entered first grade this year, I am in full battle gear. I am a one woman advocate at this point for boys and learning. Let me point out now, this is not a paper on race disparity in the public school system, it is a paper on gender disparity. Yes, there is a racial discontent among African American and Alston 2
Hispanic boys in the classroom concerning learning and being taught. I refuse to jump on the racial band wagon, if I only focused on a race that I belonged to I would be doing an injustice if I left all boys out. My first grader is a boy who happens to be black case closed. A few years back when a friend of mine son was in maybe third or fourth grade. He used to come home all the time with notes from his teacher stating Taylor had another bad day today, he wouldn’t participate in class, and he was horseplaying on the carpet it went on and on day after day. My friend would yell and scream but she would never talk to him and ask his side of the story. (I was Taylor’s afterschool daycare provider). I decided to take matters in my own hands and hold a conversation with Taylor to get to the problem of all the negative activity in the classroom. After our conversation, it was revealed that he would get frustrated in class; his teacher would not take the extra time with him to assist in his struggles in reading. According to Taylor, he would raise his hand but she would constantly ignore him. Feeling like he didn’t matter, he started to act out. He couldn’t understand why the girl on the next row could get help and he couldn’t. Instead of getting the attention and help he needed, he was labeled as a troublemaker, unwilling to learn. If she had of taken the time out, Ms. Teacher would have known or suspected the problems Taylor was having, reading. He wasn’t getting much help at home so I would help him after school with his homework and I talked to his teacher and informed her what was going on, with my help and his teacher Taylor’s reading ability, along with his handwriting drastically improved.
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In another scenario, my neighbor across the street has a son named Daniel. From the notes coming home from his teacher, anyone would have thought Daniel was just a totally screwed up fourth grader. Her complaints were that Daniel refused to listen to a thing she said or responds to my teaching methods, he gets bored easily with his classwork and wants to roam around class and help others with their assignments. She was at her wit’s end and suggested he be moved to another classroom. At this point Daniels’ parent became frustrated, they were contemplating a switch to private school but decided to rule out all possibilities and set up a doctor’s appointment for Daniel. They knew they had an intelligent son, why was he having so many problems at school? After his appointment Daniel was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Asperger’s syndrome (AS) is a neurobiological disorder that is part of a group of conditions called autism spectrum disorders. The term refers to a range of developmental disabilities that includes autism as well as other disorders with similar characteristics. (Dowshen 2) There are a few general terms associated with AS, such as the child having autistic tendencies, pervasive development disorder. Some children are considered either low or high functioning, there are various spectrums. For more information you can Google the subject to get a better understanding.
In Daniel’s case, he’s highly intelligent and gifted but lacks on some social skills which I may say I’ve seen an improvement in him. In September 2011 Daniel started Middle School,
Alston 4 is striving making straight A’s and functioning amazingly. He is another example as to how some boy are misunderstood and misjudged by their teachers. . Before my son became of school-age I made a point of preparing him for kindergarten. I shopped non-stop for learning materials from TAPS (Teacher and Parent Store), Target, and Wal-mart. I still had left over workbooks from my daughter Michelle, who’s now in eighth grade. (I refuse to write in workbooks, I’m a strong advocate of printer copying everything) did the same with her and it truly worked wonders. But I had to go a step further with Michael because I do not want him included in the school statistics. I had him more than prepared to enter school. Kindergarten went by with no problems, no changing his color to yellow or red. First grade started without a hitch. His teacher got married last month so she went on her honeymoon in comes the substitute, a retired teacher that taught at the school last year In fact she was my daughter’s first grade teacher. Michael comes home complaining this teacher doesn’t call on me when I raise my hand; she ignores me when I ask her questions about the story. It was something new each day. So, being the Mom I am, I wrote her a note and her response was I must not have seen him. The very next day Michael has a write up on his folder, talking on the carpet and throwing food in the cafeteria. After talking to my son and one of my neighbors’ son, Ilim a girl named
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Kodie started the whole thing. (Kodie was a handful last year, when I was a room parent volunteer in his Kindergarten class) First thing the next morning I was at Christopher Farms talking to that substitute. (I had to drop off papers for the upcoming week’s homework package). I wanted to know if we had an issue that needed to be addressed concerning Michael’s behavior in class. I was assured by her she had disciplined all parties involved. So, being the Mom that I am I did a little investigating though Kodie’s mom and found out she didn’t have a clue to what I was talking about, Kodie did not have a negative write up in her folder. The teacher lied to my face. I thought about pressuring the issue but my son was Mom, you’re going to make her mad at me, he had so much innocence in his eyes he couldn’t comprehend I was attempting to make this better for him until his teacher returned to class.
I started to think like him. Maybe by confronting Ms. Teacher I would make it worse for him. In the end I followed my son’s wishes and left it alone but you best believe that will not always be the case when it comes to his education and his treatment by one of his entrusted teachers. We as parents must stand up for our children in the classroom and hold the schools and teachers accountable for lack of knowledge, short patience and intolerance with our boys. If we as parents’ don’t do it, who will?
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I know for a fact that when my daughter was in elementary school, she loved to talk with her friends but did she ever get in trouble or a note sent home? Never. She was smart enrolled in the Spanish Immersion program and made straight A’s, she acted accordingly and listened and played by the rules per school society rules. Most girls can sit down, be calm and quiet per se but boys are a hold different breed and all are not alike. I expect my son to go to school and behave like his sister but that’s not being realistic. He gets in trouble for talking on the carpet. At his desk he’s wonderful, doing his classwork he’s great but it’s something about that carpet that makes him nuts. I think he associates carpet time for at home when he’s on the carpet with his WWE action figures, so carpet time to him is his time to do what he like. Problem is he’s not home so he as to maintain the urge. How do we learn and understand that boys have this urge to be physical, to be loose. They are capable individuals but we need to learn how to teach to them a way that’s more boy friendly and being still all day is not boy friendly.
Some female teachers (in my opinion) are not equipped or have the patience to handle boys and even less tolerate to handle to deal with boys on the basis of race, on the basis of some boys being free spirited and active, this really need to change,
My son is the only one in his classroom on his third grade words, one page from moving to fourth grade words, his reading his on target, math skills are improving and has a mom that would do whatever it takes to make him succeed in school. I do not want him categorized. I am not saying this is what’s happening or even going to happen this is just a fear of mine because it Alston 7 is always a possibility that it could happen. Boys get fed mixed signals, on one hand it’s ok to run, hit in sports, be active and extremely competitive. They are expected to go hard on the playing field but he must have a closed mouth and sit still in a chair for most of the day without expressing their true selves. Some have a hard time differentiating so we must learn to understand them more.
In elementary school, teachers can do several things to help boys be more successful.
Have the necessary classroom environment that fosters a boys’ creativity and learning style. Research and learn the hormonal brain difference between boys and girls. Teachers and parents alike should learn that a rambunctious behavior doesn’t constitute an inability to learn, maybe just learning in a non-traditional way. We must empower our boys on the same level we empower our girls though a solid education. No one likes to feel neglected and uncared about. Boys are no different than men. They respond to encouragement just like men respond to respect and its high time we showed both encouragement and respect to our elementary boys of all colors and nationalities.
End Page Citation
Fioriello, Patricia “The issue with boys vs girls in school. “
29 Sept 2010. Web. 31 Oct 11.
Dowshen, Steven “Asperger Syndrome.”
Apr 2008. Web. 03 Nov 11
I know for a fact that when my daughter was in Elementary school, she loved to talk with her friends but did she ever get in trouble or a note sent home? No. She was in the Spanish Immersion Program and made straight A’s, she played by the rules according the school society rules. Some female teachers (in my opinion) are equipped or have the patience to handle boys, and some are even less tolerate to handle or deal with boys of color. My son is the only one in his class on his third grade word list. He’s reading better than expected of a first grader, his math skills are improving and he has a Mom that would do whatever it takes to make him succeed in school. So, why do I have to worry about him not being treated fairly by his teachers in school?
I will tell you why, boys get feed a mixed signal. It is ok to run and around and be the best they can be in the sports arena but he must be closed mouth and sit in a chair all day with expressing themselves. I would love to see more male teachers in the Elementary classrooms. Most of the time you can count on one hand the male teachers in an Elementary classroom.
“In Elementary schools, teachers can do several things to help boys be more successful. First of all, they need to realize that there is a significance genetic and hormonal difference between boys and girls. “A common misconception is that behavior determines ability. This is a tragedy on our society. There are many boy geniuses graduating at the bottom of their class because their teachers gave up on seeing past their behavior years earlier.” (Fioriello 1)
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We must empower our boys just like we empower our girls. No one likes to feel neglected and uncared about. Boys are no different than men, they respond to encouragement just like men respond respect and it’s high time we showed both encouragement and respect to our elementary aged boys of all colors and nationalities.
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End Page Citations
Fioriello, Patricia Dr. Article: “The issue of boys vs. girls in school.”
29 Sept 2010. Web 31 Oct 11
