to be annoyed about the attitude towards boys

[SplatterMustard]

Just that really, the assumption that if boys don't like reading or writing then they are being a typical boy. One of the teacher's at DS's school was talking about boys (not mine) and said 'what do you expect, he's a boy?' I've heard comments like that time and time again.

When did it become OK to be so down on boys?

[VashtaNerada]

This is a good article on male/female learning styles (or the lack thereof...) m.smh.com.au/national/the-male-v-female-brain-is-it-all-in-the-mind-20130201-2dqqx.html

[Senpai]

Really? Are you sure that's not just more stereotyping?

Nope.

Studies have already been done and shown that boys have a harder time sitting still than girls, but as they get older they level off. Whether it's social engineering is another matter entirely.

Unfortunately, when they're younger, they're not taught in a way that tailors to their learning style and that effects them as they get older too.

[Senpai]

And actually, there has, historically, been much more sitting still and learning in schools than there is now, and it hasn't noticeably held men back.............

Historically school days were much shorter to accommodate kids working on farms. They also only allowed men in fields and colleges. So they could only pick from men.

Now they have girls who are out achieving boys in both schools and colleges. Like I said, this is good that women are doing great in academics. But let's also make sure boys are achieving the same way so we get the full potential from both genders. Is that really such an unreasonable thing to want?

[Lauren15]

YANBU. It's astonishing how pervasive this attitude is in primary schools regarding boys and literacy.

[BertrandRussell]

"Historically school days were much shorter to accommodate kids working on farms. They also only allowed men in fields and colleges. So they could only pick from men."

What, in the 1950's?

[Senpai]

What, in the 1950's?

Well, that's about the time school became mandatory, and they had shorter hours so that kids could still help as a sort of compromise. But prior to that, at least here in the US, children have been put to work on farms, and later in factories so unless you were rich and went to a boarding school (and wealthy people always have an advantage, so I'm not sure pooling them in the same category is helpful for a gender study), you didn't have long school hours because your family couldn't afford for you to.

[BertrandRussell]

Private schools often do a lot of sitting and being taught- more generally than in state schools- do privately educated boys face the same disadvantages?

I'm not saying boys don't face difficulties in education- I just don't think the reasons are as simple as people seem to be saying.

[HubertsBirthdayStick]

Please, have your thread and i apologise.

FGM, the pay gap, rape, etc concerns me more than what has been presented to me, as an issue pressing society (and not just here in uk) as of right now.

So its just passes me by and i think .

But thats my issue, and ill get off the thread.
Sorry again

[HubertsBirthdayStick]

Presented to me as a problem in the op*
^
Correction^

[Flashbangandgone]

To go against the grain here... My understanding is that the average boy develops differently to the average girl. This shouldn't be a great surprise given the biological differences between males and females... An analogy would be height. On average males are taller than females... But of course there are very short men and very tall women. The key words here are 'on average'.

I don't see anything wrong in recognising and being aware of a tendency for differences between the sexes when it comes to the speed of learning or preferred learning styles, so long as the teacher is sophisticated enough to recognise that boys and girls shouldn't be pigeon-holed because of their sex.

I'd actually go further and say that generalising that girls and boys do not have a tendency on average for certain behaviours and preferences because of some distorted notion of sexual equality is also misguided.

You only have to look at the difference (again on average - there are always exceptions and it's wrong to pigeon-hole) between boys and girls when it comes to rough/fighting games to see the difference between the sexes.

[Givinguph0pe]

Definitely a western preference towards girls. Boys are seen as a consolation prize I think.

I've had some horrid comments made to me about ds. When he was two he was helping me with the shopping, he dropped a loaf of bread (was carrying milk and something else too) and the cashier said 'typical boy, can't multi-task.' Mil often drivels on - in front of ds - about how girls are always ahead of boys. I think a lot of women make comments about boys that would be unacceptable for men to say about girls.
I sent a photo of ds in his football outfit to a friend and she replied with 'growing up to be a football thug then?'
When he was a baby I had people say things like 'oh he's very alert...for a boy.'

There is absolutely a girl preference - particularly amongst women - in western society.

[Flashbangandgone]

Ps I am certainly not suggesting we should make excuses for boys and any behaviour that they show that is anti-social, lazy or selfish.... I just don't think we need to force ourselves to believe boys and girls are the same, and need exactly the same treatment to do this.

[Missanneshirley]

I have 2 dds and most of my friends have boys- I'm quite fed up of being told how "easy" it must be to have girls as they are all "good"

[MatildaTheCat]

I was a midwife for many, many years and cannot count the number of times, when discussing an overdue baby, I heard, 'oh, he's a typical lazy boy.' for not being born on time ffs

This was a comment made by both parents and staff.

[gandalf456]

I find people very negative about boys, thinking they're all mental and can't sit still.While mine has his moments, I don't really have any problems either at home or school and he generally does as he is told.He is different from his sister but not in a negative way. On the whole, I find him quite easy and feel quite protective when it's suggested his behaviour might not meet people's expectations for being a boy

[RadeGhoul]

I don't think anyone is saying that, at a population level, there aren't some differences between the way boys and girls on average tend to behave. And I'm sure we could ague indefinitely about the magnitude of that difference and whether it comes down to nature, nurture or both.
But whatever side of that argument you come down on, I just don't see how comments like 'typical boy' or 'typical girl' are particularly helpful or constructive. I lean towards nurture though, so maybe that's why...

[HubertsBirthdayStick]

No, not really, Sorry.

[TheDowagerCuntess]

For all those desperately worried about men going out into the workforce and being disadvantaged - don't be.

Men still well and truly rule the world, in spite of the fact that girls consistently outperform boys academically! And as long as women are the ones to give birth and breastfeed, men will always have the advantage.

I'm being flippant, obviously, but I really, really don't think boys - and ultimately men - have anything serious to worry about. They do just fine in the real world; we see it all around us on a daily basis, in every country of the world.

I do utterly agree that gender stereotyping is massively damaging, as it applies to boys and girls.

[HubertsBirthdayStick]

I just cant reconcile why in actual authority positions there are more men.
Doctors, mp etc etc.

Is thsi not a signal that really, REALLY boys are doing okay, amd will do for years to come.

[BertrandRussell]

There also seems to be an underlying assumption that if the system downMt suit boys then the system should change. And if it doesn't suit girls, then the girls should change!

[HubertsBirthdayStick]

The Dowager Cuntess - precisely.

Thought i was going mad for a minute !

[HubertsBirthdayStick]

bertrand ! OMG so true.

I felt like i was going a bit mental for a minute.