In the aftermath of the whole Adolescence show and the current concern for boys and men I listened to some experts on a podcast talk about how to support young men. One thing that was mentioned was how girls mature faster than boys and that women's brain development is around 18 months ahead of males and as a result boys should be held back a year from starting primary school. So in that case girls would start school at approximately 5 and boys would start at 6 years old, I am assuming in the same cohort.
I'm not sure about this, surely it this would likely cause a massive disadvantage to girls and leave them dealing at a younger age with boys who are older by a year or more than them all though school. There was also the suggestion that school is designed to advantage girls because in school you need to sit quietly, facing the front, put your hand up, be quiet and well behaved and that we need to redesign schools to make them work for boys. This kind of thing always annoys me when I hear it because even back in time when most children were not educated but the sons of the wealthy were educated in classrooms this was the set up which was designed for boys, to sit in a classroom at your desk and work. I also resent the implication that all girls are one way and all boys are another.
I myself was the youngest in my class at 4 when I started School which did cause me some issues. I struggled with having to sit all day, I was always someone who learned by doing and so I excelled more at art, music and ballet until I got to high school where I began to do well academically. There were certainly plenty of boys in my class from primary who had no issue sitting quietly in class and doing their work.
I know there is an issue, part of it is the lack of good opportunities for non academic boys, a lot of that is also down to the fact that wages have not kept up with the cost of living. Modern tech and addictions can be destructive and harmful to both boys and girls but in different ways. I do want boys to be helped but its difficult to listen to this kind of thing and not hear "boys are falling behind and girls are doing better so we need to make things harder for girls so boys can do better again".
Surely their is a better way of doing this?
The expert in the podcast also seemed to suggest that little girls even though they faced more trauma in childhood were less affected by it long term than boys were. That girls were mostly "dandelions" which can thrive anywhere under any conditions but that boys were more likely to be "orchids" who need special care and attention to thrive. Forgive me if I call bullshit on that one.