Hey girls... (no, I'm not comin' on to ya')

[Griff]

My personal view is that it's more about turning young boys off early on. Many are not ready for sitting quietly and standing in line, which are prerequisites for the academics that are often being crammed down their throats in pre-k. Instead of focusing on fun enriching activities that make boys like school, there is a demand for academic development at the time when social development is more important. The key is individualizing education enough so the more advanced (often) girls can learn to read while the less advanced(often) boys figure out how to use words to resolve conflicts.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Griff

My personal view is that it's more about turning young boys off early on. Many are not ready for sitting quietly and standing in line, which are prerequisites for the academics that are often being crammed down their throats in pre-k. Instead of focusing on fun enriching activities that make boys like school, there is a demand for academic development at the time when social development is more important. The key is individualizing education enough so the more advanced (often) girls can learn to read while the less advanced(often) boys figure out how to use words to resolve conflicts.

Amen, brother.

[lushchocolateswirl]

Hunglike, the article you quoted is dated 2006. The information within the article is proof that before that article was written there was already studies looking into the problems.

GRIFF. Funnily enough I went to an information night about our school welfare system last night. The principle was talking about discipline for boys and how different it has to be to disciplining girls.
Science is very hands on in our school and so is sport. All boys (from grade three upwards) in our school has to take on a leadership and organisation role at least once during the school year. Almost all the boys in our little school has an outside sport and are encouraged to participate in such. (football, cricket, swimming, tennis.) But in all of this encouraging we expect the girls to do it too.
I understand what you are all saying about boys being left behind. I have three sons and I've seen the difference in schooling, comparing what my 20 year old had to what my 13 and 10 year olds have today, and there is a marked difference and a heck of a lot more emphazise on boys.
Another problem we had (in Victoria) is quite some time ago the government closed all the tech schools. Boys were meant to sit in a classroom for six years and get their VCE . If they couldn't cope well it was just too bad . They either had to leave school at 15 to go to work (apprenticeships) or fail. At least now they are introducing TECH back into the highschools so boys can have all the interesting gadget stuff and stay at school for a more rounded education (english, history, the arts. etc)
Griff, boys have to know how to stand in line and sit and listen. But it's not as simple as that . Boys have to know why they are standing in line and sitting quietly. You're right in the individual learning but I believe that all education should be for both sexes and not just one.
Education was centred around boys once, then more recently it was centred around girls, hopefully now we'll get it right .
We are speaking the same language just coming at the same subject by different understandings.