I completed my student practicum in an upper elementary grade classroom in a school here in the Ozarks. I enjoyed the experience, the students and my cooperating teacher. I am troubled though. Not with the teacher or with the students, but I am troubled about some things that I observe in the classroom and wonder if those issues are systemic, or just circumstantial to this group of students.
I passed out many papers and I observed the student’s grades on those papers. I noticed that in general terms, the girls seemed to be very successful making A’s and B’s. In general, the boys seemed to be doing far worse, making D’s and F’s. Now I want to be clear that I am not making stereotyped statement about all girls or all boys. I am, however, speaking in generalities and noticing some trends that affect students.
That leads me to my question: Is this a systemic problem found in many schools across the district, county, state and nation? Or is this, perhaps, a circumstantial event in which many of the boys who happened to be placed in this classroom also have poor academic performance? I have heard tell that the national trend has crossed over and that girls across the nation are now outperforming boys academically. The old gender bias has fallen by the way side and it is now boys who are struggling to keep up.
Maybe that word “struggle” is a key factor? Maybe it has to do with the girls in fifth grade are maturing and thus able to achieve a higher academic level than the boys most of which have not started to mature? I wonder if there is a socio-economic reason or perhaps it’s as simple as boys are engaging in many sports-related extracurricular activities and are having a hard time balancing it all? There could be other factors contributing that I have not yet considered. I have not done any research yet, as I am too stretched with school and my practicum and teaching karate.
Should we consider moving toward schools or classroom segregated by gender? Would that hinder or help the students? I’ve also heard there are studies on that issue as well, but I haven’t had time to research that either. If you have a perspective on this, let me know. I’d like to hear it. If you have a link to some research, then that will be even better.
I smell a Master’s Thesis in the works.
I passed out many papers and I observed the student’s grades on those papers. I noticed that in general terms, the girls seemed to be very successful making A’s and B’s. In general, the boys seemed to be doing far worse, making D’s and F’s. Now I want to be clear that I am not making stereotyped statement about all girls or all boys. I am, however, speaking in generalities and noticing some trends that affect students.
That leads me to my question: Is this a systemic problem found in many schools across the district, county, state and nation? Or is this, perhaps, a circumstantial event in which many of the boys who happened to be placed in this classroom also have poor academic performance? I have heard tell that the national trend has crossed over and that girls across the nation are now outperforming boys academically. The old gender bias has fallen by the way side and it is now boys who are struggling to keep up.
Maybe that word “struggle” is a key factor? Maybe it has to do with the girls in fifth grade are maturing and thus able to achieve a higher academic level than the boys most of which have not started to mature? I wonder if there is a socio-economic reason or perhaps it’s as simple as boys are engaging in many sports-related extracurricular activities and are having a hard time balancing it all? There could be other factors contributing that I have not yet considered. I have not done any research yet, as I am too stretched with school and my practicum and teaching karate.
Should we consider moving toward schools or classroom segregated by gender? Would that hinder or help the students? I’ve also heard there are studies on that issue as well, but I haven’t had time to research that either. If you have a perspective on this, let me know. I’d like to hear it. If you have a link to some research, then that will be even better.
I smell a Master’s Thesis in the works.
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3 comments:
Bunny: Another reason I would argue that girls are more successful than boys is how we teach. We have moved from a strictly lecture classroom to group work, class discussion, projects, etc. One could argue that young ladies have strengths in these areas as social butterflies and task masters (as you refer to me). These are lot of generalizations and stereotypes but another possible theory.
Fat Jack's wife
ooops! I meant to add that I would not advocate for segregation in the classroom. I think it is very important that boys and girls socialize and learn how to deal with each other. It also important for children to learn early in life that females are superior and smarter than males. (tee, hee) Girl power!
Fat Jack's wife again
Fascinating thoughts. I would be interested in finding out more on this. I have no good answers for you. It might be a combination of all of the theories.
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