A friend sent me a link to a Reader's Digest article on How Boys and Girls Learn Differently. I was amazed to read there is a public school in South Carolina where the boys and girls are taught separately. The article starts with:
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At a primary school Manning, a small town 65 miles east of Columbia, South Carolina, second grade teachers Holly Garneau and Anna Lynne Gamble are convinced that segregating elementary-age boys and girls produces immediate academic improvement—in both genders. Eager to capitalize on their past progress, the two created a teaching plan for the upcoming semester. The kids will be in a coed environment for homeroom, lunch, and recess, then divide up for four hours each day to learn their math, science, reading and social studies. But first, Garneau and Gamble need the parents’ approval. That’s where David Chadwell, South Carolina’s coordinator of single gender education, comes in.
He doesn’t argue the politics of the issue. He emphasizes the science “These (learning) differences are tendencies, not absolutes. That is important,” he tells the group. “However, we can teach boys and girls based on what we now know because of medical technology.”
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I wonder how long before the politically correct crowd tries to shut this down.
One of the nice things about homeschooling is parents can teach according to how the child learns. One teacher trying to teach twenty five children can not teach in the best style for each child.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
6 comments:
That is one of the huge reasons we have decided to homeschool. I taught 1st grade, and it seemed (a vast majority of the time) that it was the summer bday boys who really struggled. If someone was going to have a hard time, it usually fell upon those children.
Our son is a summer boy, and the more we do homeschool work, the more I'm convinced he would really struggle in a conventional setting! He's great at working hard & focusing for about 15 minutes, but then he's ready to MOVE that little body!
There's no way he would enjoy learning in my old, traditional classroom setting.
I always feel bad for the injustice I did to the boys I taught, not realizing that my "mold" didn't fit some of the kids...
Dr. Sax in "Why Gender Matters" has written on this subject, and is very much in favor of splitting up the genders for class.
My wife and I have even split up the genders in Sunday School when we teach. Unfortunately, it is difficult to do that, but I think it would be ideal if we could every week.
~Luke
Sorry about the blank post.
I just pulled my grade one son out of school to homeschool him. I'm using our school districts distance education program to teach him.
When I met our distance ed teacher she told that just in this month (Nov) she's had 3 other boys in Kindergarten and Grade 1 register. This does not surprise me at all.
The schools system where I live is not meeting the educational needs of boys.
Thanks for the post its great to see some people are willing to take a stand to get boys back on track.
"...its great to see some people are willing to take a stand to get boys back on track."
Yes, it is cool that some people are able to look at reality and not be blinded by politically correct thinking. It is scary that this may be the only public school in all of America which is willing to teach children separated by gender.
This recent article at The Republic http://townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2008/12/02/some_change_is_a_big_improvement?page=full&comments=true
Also points out the trend (emphasis added):
"Meanwhile, another dramatic change has quietly been taking place in public schools, and the '60s radicals, the ACLU and the feminists are in fits about it, too. Hundreds of public schools are embracing single-sex classrooms, programs and even entire buildings.
As recently as five years ago, only about a dozen public schools offered even one program or class that was all-boy or all-girl. Today, over 360 public schools do, at least 80 of which are entirely all-boy or all-girl schools.
This growth in single-sex programs and schools exploded only during the past two years. Title IX regulations were modified in 2006 to allow voluntary single-sex programs.
This rapid movement toward single-sex education is not coming from Republican or conservative areas. The demand for separating boys and girls is coming from the inner-cities of places like New Orleans.
The Louisiana state board of education this year approved two new single-sex public schools in New Orleans: the Miller-McCoy Academy for Mathematics and Business and the American Scholars Academy. The founder of the latter, Natasha Baker, was frustrated at the unusually high percentage of boys who were suspended for misconduct or put in special-education classes"
I've noticed that arguments against common sense often play the "race" card. This is no exception:
Feminists are howling in protest against this growing trend toward single-sex public education. Ever since the 1960s, they've been demanding that boys and girls, and men and women, be treated exactly the same based on feminist theory that there are no gender differences.
"Without anyone batting an eye, we are re-segregating schools based on gender," complained Rosalind Barnett of Brandeis University. "If for a minute people talked about re-segregating on race, people would be up in arms."
Bob Durtschi
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