Have Today's Schools Failed Male Students Essay

As discussed in a recent essay by Saul Kaplan “The Plight of Young Males”, there is a serious academic gender achievement gap in the United States and as I will discuss, around the world. Young women are doing significantly better than young men, and the results are shocking. In the latest census, males make up 51 percent of the total U.S. population between the ages of 18-24. Yet only 40 percent of today’s college students are men. Since 1982, more American women than men have received bachelor’s degrees. In the last ten years, two million more women graduated from college than men. As Kaplan reveals, the average eleventh-grade boy writes at the level of the average eighth-grade girl. He also states that women dominate high school honor rolls and now make up more than 70 percent of class valedictorians. Kaplan says, “I am happy to see women succeeding. But can we really afford for our country’s young men to fall so far behind,” (733)?

Society’s understanding of gender roles debate about gender equity and have always been connected to the social roles that men and women we assigned to shape Americans views of education for girls and boys. What has also been affected is race and social class between females and males who attend schools. Ideas of what women and men are suppose to be and do have cut across different classifications. Ending unfairness in schools has rested on change to gender roles mainly women.

When it comes to the classroom, there are several differences between girls and boys. There are physical differences in the way their brains work, differences in the room temperature that is best for boys and girls, and differences in how girls and boys respond to various tones of speech (Sax, 2006). While girls prefer soft-spoken teachers, Sax (2006) notes that boys prefer to be spoken to “loudly and in short, direct sentences with clear instructions” (p. 195). According to Sax (2006), “the ideal ambient temperature for boys is about 69 degrees and about 75 degrees for girls” (p. 193-194). Further differences involve how boys and girls learn. McNeil states that “boys may learn better under pressure and when allowed to move around...while girls may perform better in group situations and with a lot of encouragement” (McNeil, 2008). Because of these many differences, it would stand to reason that boys and girls would benefit from being in separate classrooms. According to Hughes (2007), “the teacher would be able to concentrate on the learning-styles of each sex and use the styles to bring out the academic best in each students. Lessons and activities could be designed with a single-sex in mind” (p. 11). As Principal John Fox states, “the single-sex environment enables you to actually focus on the particular needs of each gender, and those needs socially and

Secondly, the interaction between teachers and male and female students. Sociologist Francis (2000) argues that classrooms are still male dominated and that boys are disciplined more frequently and harshly by teachers compared to girls. Therefore, it is seen that boys get more attention than girls as they are disciplined more harshly than girls, leading to girls getting less attention than boys, also in terms of ethnicity, boys from African Caribbean backgrounds are also more likely to be disciplined than white British boys. This may result in boys feeling picked on in school which may result in gender and ethnic differences in achievement.

When you send your children off in the morning to go to school, no matter what grade they are in whither it be elementary, junior high, or senior high, you expect that they will receive the best education that they can get. They should be asked challenging questions, encouraged and called upon to participate in class, they should also be given as much help as they need to secede by the teacher. However, this is most commonly not the case. Parents and the children themselves are unaware of what is going on because gender bias is not a noisy problem. Most people are unaware of the secret sexist lessons that occur every day in classrooms across the country. In this essay I will use two essay's from the reader:

According to “Old Tactic Gets New Use: Public Schools Separate Boys and Girls,” A third grade little girl said that boys are “annoying” and without them “we learn new things”. This quote is saying that kids are ok with this in their school and don't want to hang out with opposite gender anyways. One reason someone might disagree about this reason

On January 30, 2006, Newsweek published a magazine focused on “The Boys Crisis.” There were many topics that were covered in the magazine in regards to “The Boys Crisis.” One of the main ideas that the author, Peg Tyre focused on was that the academic performance of male students are falling behind the performance of female students, throughout all grades, and that male students need to be more accountable for their actions through things like serving detention. While she wrote a lot about gender, pictures like the one that I have attached, of students at an all boy’s public school serving detention, were included in the magazine. This picture accurately depicts that Peg’s intentions were not to focus on male students alone but to focus on

In a country that is striving toward gender equality, this is an important issue that needs to be addressed to avoid potential consequences for our citizens down the line. The educational system in the United States is seeing boys fall behind in their studies due to programs being aimed at girl’s success.

“It is early indeed that children show an awareness of the message that… females are generally less interesting and important than males are… The (often inadvertent) bearers of this message include parents, peers, and teachers.” (Lips, 1979, p. 128.) The absence of gender equity can be damaging to both males and females. Surprisingly most of the teachers and administrators are unaware of this problem. Organizations such as the American Association of University Women (“Gender equity,” 2003.) strive to create programs that will improve equality within schools. The purpose of this research paper is to identify gender equity issues in the classroom and explore strategies for teachers to incorporate equitable

Brooks brings up the problem of boys failing in the education system in his article Honor Code. The history of boys losing hope in school and becoming troubled goes back to the time Shakespeare was alive. Shakespeare made up a fictional character that represents how boys acted within that era “ He’d get in a serious wrestling ,match with his buddy Falstaff, and, by the time he got him in a headlock, there’d be suspensions all around”(1), which is still going on in present time. In my own personal experience, I have seen fights start at school with troubled boys and a suspension doesn’t save the boys from doing worse in school.

Christine Cosker responded to Mooney's article indicating that it is not the fault of the women teachers, but the society in which these boys are raised. The boys are taught that women are

Firstly, I partly agree to what Pettersson stated in her article. Yes, I think that some students go to school mainly to meet friends and have a nice time. Having a nice time is of course great, but to disturb other students, during class, by talking loudly is according to me bad behaving, caused by the rogue attitude to school. But that the teachers allow this by not being disciplined, to me is madness. One cannot say that the teachers or the school system is the one cause for the attitude problem. I think that a more repetitive schedule would do these pesky students great. Due to a different schedule every day, varied starting and ending times and huge breaks, the students cannot really find a stability or routine that fits for everyday life and school. It is obvious, if you end at 1 pm one day and 5 pm the

A teacher is an important key element in the educational system as well as a role model. Some teachers hold traditional gender stereotypes about their students’ views of what is expected of them. Many children develop social

Unconsciously or not, they consistently reinforce and reward more 'feminine' behavior. Although it may be true that boys are more active than girls, but to say that they are treated differently is to be overly generalizing the situation. A teacher is supposed to be able to handle different types of children in the classroom, and cater to their activeness or passiveness in a class. For example, a teacher would try to involve a quiet and shy student as often as possible. The same goes for an active child; the teacher should be able to find activities for that child which would not only educate them, but also keep them busy.

Gender equity in terms of education is about the socialization of men and women and the results of this process on the life outcomes of the two genders (Husen & Postlethwaite, 1994). In the United States, the education system is required to treat males and females equally. There has been much research done to compare the genders in all areas. In the past, research has found that women fall far behind men in many areas such as math, and science, but men lag behind women in certain areas as well. Over the years, many provisions have been made with the goal of equalizing the treatment of girls and boys in public education. These improvements are proven successful as women, as well as men, are advancing in areas where they tend to lag