Are schools nowadays a hostile learning environment for boys?

Question

Some anti-feminist men are claiming that they are, but I really don't see it. If they are, describe how?

Granted, I went to a private school, so my educational experience is obviously going to be different than most. But overall it seemed that, at my school, the environment slightly favored boys. We had several male teachers, and they were always treating the boys really well because of the male athletics at our school (most of the boys played sports). Everyone was still very respectful towards females, but I don't think we got any advantages.

The top 5 or 6 students in my class (of 25 total) were still girls, though, despite not having any kind of discernible advantage, and perhaps a slight disadvantage.

Does anyone happen to know if there are any schools who separate boys and girls classes, with the teaching styles specifically designed to work best for the gender of the class?

If there are such programs, what is the success of them? And what are the overall marks of the students? In other words, are the females significantly ahead of the males in any area, and are the males significantly ahead of the females in any area?

These are all good points, and I can see how it would be hard for a boy to succeed.

On one point I do disagree though...I don't think you can really blame it on women that there are more female teachers. Maybe if more men would pursue education as a career there would be more male teachers.

Ashley H also has a good point, with the birdhouse reference. I can recall many instances in which the boys in my community and school got to do all kinds of cool things, while the girls were stuck doing useless girly things. I hated it.

That sounds like a pretty logical reason why a man wouldn't want to become a teacher. Incidentally, I've also heard of instances in which the "Don't talk to strangers" thing they teach kids has been changed to "Don't talk to male strangers, find a woman to help you". That can't be helping matters.

I do agree that on average, boys learn one way and girls learn another way. There are three main learning styles that I am aware of: visual (learn by seeing), auditory (learn by hearing), and tactile (learn by doing). If I had to guess, I would say that most boys are probably either tactile or visual, and most girls are probably auditory or visual (note, this is just a guess).

So, here's the question...do we separate the classes by gender and cater to that particular gender's learning style? What about the handful of boys who may learn better the female way or vice versa? Or do we simply keep the whole class together and use a balance of different teaching styles for different learning styles?

Answer 1

Boys and girls have different ways of learning, the current learning style in schools is beneficial to girls only... boys just have to 'deal with it' for one.
There are MANY more female teachers in schools than there are male teachers, and nearly all teachers will favour a girls story over aboys - unless he has some damn hard evidence to back up his version.
As you've read on another question, many of these female teachers are female supremacists and openly bash boys... I endured a couple or so in my time at school, yet have no recollections of girl-bashing teachers.
Any boy who doesn't do as he is told is drugged up on ritalino's and left in a zombie status, rather than figuring out how to let him get his excess energy out of his system (like, perhaps - allowing recess again).
School work is being based in part on how fancy the work looks, rather than the content.. boys generally aren't into drawing flowers & fairies all over their work.

etc.

ETA: W3ST... d'ya notice, we're answering the question - truthfully - and yet receiving thumbsdown... odd, eh ;-)

ETA: One of the main reasons men do not enter the teaching role, is fear. They are scared of being branded paedophiles or general abusers of children. This has come to be due to the hypersensitivies of feminist groups (such as NOW) which have worked hard to portray the average man as an abuser. This fear is growing amongst common men, men who do not have any political opinions at all - for example, a roadworker saw a small girl wandering alone. He considered taking her hand and calling for police, BUT chose not to, for fear of being branded negatively. Two hours later, the girl was found dead. Can you imagine the guilt that man has on his shoulders? But, if it weren't for the branding of comman man as an abuser (which only a minority are - not the majority, as feminist groups claim) he could have inadvertantly saved her life!

ETA:
As I said in another thread - girls are exceeding in ALL other areas aside from math & science... why do feminists focus on those two only instead of working for equality, by trying to raise boys standards too? Psychologists know boys & girls learn differently, and the school system changed to favour girls psychology over boys... thus boys are at an automatic disadvantage.
and, when I was in school... I took up home-economics. I was interested in cooking & sowing... shocked?

ETA: Thanks for thumbs / comments folks :-) appreciated.
RoVale, in the not too distance past, men made up the majority of tutors... women began taking over the role... I've read employment documents on the issue I addressed and can confirm through reports which agree with my points... can you produce anything to confirm your 'opinion' that men are simply avoiding it because it's "womens work"? I doubt it.

Answer 2

This is easy. As the mama to 'my 3 son's' I can honestly tell you that a public school is a hostile learning environment for ANYONE.

Boys and girls will always have their differences, just as male/female teachers will have theirs.

I don't think the problem is really gender focused. Everyone brings their own bias to the table whether its the principle, teacher, or parent and its usually gender neutral. I never felt my child was being punished for being a boy, nor have I heard any mothers' of girls I know make that complaint.

I do recognize in the areas of sports girls won't have teams that boys have, etc. When I was in H.S. it was a big problem seeing how the teachers would give the boys passing grades or extra homework help so they could pass n' play. Nowadays, I know girls who are receiving the same treatment. Kudos if sports will inspire these kids to do better in school.

The real problems are the bullys, both student and teacher alike. They fuel the negative environment that creates so much hostility. My 12 year old is a special needs student and its disgusting the things I see. When he was younger, there were some boys who had proper 'hometraining' that treated him with respect. But by and large it was the girls who may have felt somewhat uncomfortable but still graciously accepted him into the group. Middle school remains to be seen. As he's gotten older his disability is less and less noticeable, so I'm hoping it might get better.

What I remember of m.s. and h.s. I could just as soon forget. Considering what kids have on their shoulders nowdays I can only imagine what the pressure is like for them .

Answer 3

I really don't like the way you phrased the details in your questions. It seems to be what you are implying when you say that even though girls were at a disadvantage, they did better regardless. I hope you're not a man-hater. But if you are, you can feel free to drop me a line if you feel like talking about it. I'll try to help out.

On to the question.

I don't think the school system is anti-boy, rather it is pro-girls.

Boys need to interact with their environment to learn. We are more hands-on. That's also one of the reasons more boys take Phys. Ed, Construction Technology, and Science than girls.

I'm in Grade 11, and last year I took Phys. Ed. We only had a couple girls in our class, and they disliked going to the gym, but were OK with note-taking. The boys hated copying notes but loved playing games.

In Construction Technology, we only had around 5 girls. They liked copying notes but hated going to the lab; they let the boys do everything there. The boys were the exact opposite.

In Science, the boys only worked when we go to the Science Lab to experiment, but that's also when the girls had a hard time working. They tend to fare better in the classroom though.

The problem with the modern education system, is that it's too much note-copying, and not enough hands-on activities.

The media also plays a role. On TV, men are constantly being portrayed as idiots and the woman a real Einstein. Babies watch TV, and when they're boys, the boys start to think they'll turn out to be idiots just like on TV so it's no use trying. I haven't been on Yahoo! Answers very long, but on a question I saw asking who was smarter, boys or girls, the girls all said girls were smarter, while some of the boys also said girls, and some said it didn't matter what sex you are.

It's also well known that girls mature faster than boys. This can cause some boys to become discouraged with school when they see 90% of girls getting better marks than they are. This is one reason I am for sex segregation in elementary & middle school. Boys reach puberty in High School, they have raging hormones (I know I do) and all we think about is girls. Plenty of guys I know skip homework and classes just to see their girlfriend. They can't focus in class because of this.

I think to make the education system more equal, we should have more hands-on activities in boy's schools (this may require more money), and we should segregate the sexes from elementary school up until high school.

I have experienced sexism from female teachers, but I don't think there is anything that can be done about it. There will always be sexism and racism.

Thanks for taking the time to listen and I hope I challenged whatever views you may have.

Answer 4

You would be wise to let this pass and not tell the principal or file a lawsuit because you were not hurt physically or mentally by what happened. You will graduate soon and then move on to the next grade and this will be behind you. You would be making a mountain out of a molehill and there is no need to do so. Move on and let it go. Life is full of dummies and the teachers have showed you they are dummies when they should be showing they are responsible and an example of what to do in life, not what is a stupid thing to do in life. This is a lesson to you as it lets you know teachers aren't perfect and some are good teachers and some are poor teachers. These two teachers are very poor teachers for they are not role models children can emulate.

Answer 5

I think boys have always looked at school as a hostile environment.

Some of the most intelligent people (boys) I have ever known were lousy on paper, and some of the most supposedly intelligent people I have met were great on paper, but fools in the physical world.

The biggest problem many intellectual boys face in school is that while athletes are encouraged to excel, the most intelligent of male students are forced to learn at the same rate as everyone else. It's like telling the fastest runners that they can only run as fast as the slower students so that everyone runs at the same pace. Intelligent boys are not given the glory that athletes receive, and are treated as social outcasts. Our schools have rallies for the football team and the basketball team, but not the science team or the debate team. Guess what, it is the science team that will win the next war.

Our schools don't reward the boys who were busy building hotrods or computers, they reward the jocks and the conformists, but the boys who move our economy to the next level are the ones who were busy in high school leaning how to do things in the real world, often far ahead of what was being taught in school.

Many of us intimidated our teachers from an early age, and those teachers got even when giving out the grades. "I don't understand what you are saying in this theme, Henry James was a great writer."

"Plllbbbbbt, he sucked big wieners"

Answer 6

In response to some of the other answers, the reasons more men don't enter teaching as a profession, especially at the elementary level, is not necessarily because they are afraid of being labeled child molesters or that there's something wrong with them. The reasons more don't enter the profession is (a) they see it as women's work and (b) they can get jobs that pay much better elsewhere. The attitude about teaching being women's work has been around for years. It used to be just about the only profession highly educated women could enter. They might have been excellent students in college and even graduated at the top of their classes but when they looked for work, they found that the only types of jobs they could get were teaching or secretarial. They didn't have many choices.

Answer 7

Well in my school it's the opposite. here's a list of why it is becoming hostile

1. we have more female teachers than male and they constantly let off hints to p!ss us off how girls are getting better marks

2. my teachers i have don't give us as much attention anymore.

3. my principle for my grade is a woman, and always suspends boys for doing things like messing around

4. it's become a visious cycle, it seems all the boys in my school have to prove themselves by doing stupid things and thinks it is funny

5. it's the pecking order, we're down the bottom now, girls hit us for no reason and we can't do anything about it, but we're told on assembly every god damn week that a girl has somehow done better than us

6. my friends that are girls are now even beggining to realise whats happening

7. some kids are now on ritalin because they are "out of control" and all it takes is for them to do hands on activities instead of sitting down for more than an hour

that's my school for ya, like every other god damn school

Answer 8

mathewssh well put.

It is well known in society that boys and some girls need a male roll model or authority figure, so on top of what mathewssh said, learning differences, hardly any male teachers and we have de-masculation by women teachers and society.

So where do the boys fit in

Edit
Ashley H some mother of a son and you know better than the experts because why, because you either dont have a son or dont give a toss

Answer 9

mathewssh has nailed it on the head, once again.

Its primarily a combination of factors, including teacher bias (female teachers favour girls over boys - and I can, indeed, attest to this in my personal experience), an anti-male atmosphere, which, more or less, ties in with the former point (e.g. female teachers turning the blind eye to disobedient behaviour from female students, while reprimanding and punishing males) and teaching methods based on biological aspects (males-females learn differently), such as a greater emphasis on social skills applied in workgroups (which, btw, females excel at; again, it's biological-- women's superior ability to communicate), with less emphasis on analytical thinking etc.

For further insight, and other examples, just visit this MRA site;

http://www.mens-rights.net/sexism/education.htm

By the way, yes, I believe we should segregate boys and girls, for the purpose of tailoring their needs in the context of learning methods etc. Having more male teachers would help, too; however, social stigmas attached to male teachers (such as being labelled an 'abuser'--thank feminists for that) is one of the reasons why men are turned away from entering such a profession.

Answer 10

YES they sure are

Ashley you are blind to the facts, ether your son is yet to young to realize this yet or is to embarrassed to tell you.

fact is i was wondering this my self so i asked my son about it who is in middle school. after finally getting him to realize that he can talk to me on it i got him to open up and to my surprise he told me every thing that w3st sid3 R3P posted here. Your agenda ladies is hurting our sons but will you see it or even give a crap , some how i don't thank so. all i know is all i can do is help my son to deal with all this BS. and if you thank I'm raising a chauvinist you are so wrong , my son is a gentle kind kid who is doing quite well despite all the hardship he faces in our schools.