Boys will be boys

I was unaware of the statistics that this video highlighted about boys.  This video talks about the differences of boys and girls and how they react to the school environment.  I have one boy and one girl and I can tell you they are like night and day.  They are nothing alike.  Even though my boy is not the boy that plays in dirt and my girl is not a little princess, their personalities could not be any more different.  They look at the world differently. 

The speaker, Ali Carr-Chellman, spoke about these differences and how it translates to performance in school.  She talked about the Hundred Girls Project.  For every 100 girls expelled school, 335 boys are expelled.  For every 100 girls in special education, there are 217 boys in special education.  All of the negative things that she mentioned, there are always more boys.  This is shocking news.  I was completely unaware of these statistics. 

The speaker brought up a few reasons why the balance is so off for boys.  The first reason is Zero Tolerance.  Boys are not allowed to be boys in school anymore.  There is not allowed to be any mention of rough housing or fighting or aggression of any kind.  Boys are not allowed to bring their toy guns or knives to school for show and tell.  They probably are not even allowed to talk about them.  There is no reason for such hysteria.  A toy gun has never killed anyone.  I understand that the school shootings that have happened in the last decade or so have been tragic, but overreaction and going to the extreme is not the answer. 

The second reason are fewer male teachers.  I think this is probably the most important point this speaker made.  There is virtually no male presence in elementary schools.  Boys have no one around them, that is like them, or understands them.  In society today, too few boys already have no male role model at home either.  So some of these boys may have no male influence at all until later years.  This is not healthy at all, for boys or girls.  I think having more males in elementary schools would be good for everyone involved.  But what could be done about it?  The same way that grants are offered to women to get into math and sciences, grants should be offered to men to get degrees in Elementary Education.  Too often if men go into education, it is in coaching.  This needs to change.  Men need to be encouraged to help in the education of our future. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/ali_carr_chellman_gaming_to_re_engage_boys_in_learning.html