Originally published in TEACH Magazine, May/June 2004 Issue
By Susan Murray
The concept that boys and girls learn differently is not new. Often, what a student naturally enjoys or is inclined toward will determine his or her success in various school subjects; but what if today’s classroom and curriculum structure catered (however unintentionally) to one gender more than the other? Many researchers say this is now the case, with boys facing an upward struggle from primary school on.
For many boys, co-educational public schools can be uncomfortable, unfriendly, unproductive places. Teaching styles and disciplinary habits are often not suited to the average boy and may “lock him into a terrible cycle of punishment and bad behaviour,” writes Dr. William Pollack, a professor at Harvard Medical School and author of Real Boys: Rescuing our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood. In learning environments biased against their strengths, boys may become turned off or frustrated and may attempt to have their needs met by seeking negative attention. This rebellion completes the circle of failure, Pollack argues, with many boys labelled as troublemakers or diagnosed with hyperactivity. If Pollack is right, schools may need to upgrade many traditional teaching methods; but what about the girls?
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