to be totally bored hearing this same old trite trotted out

[curryfreak]

Get this all the time from parents of boys.
How difficult they are, how much more of a handful they can be in relation to girls, how much they eat in comparision to girls ffs,- who cares.
The one though, that has been in vogue for a while,(courtesy of daily mail headlines and the like) is how terrible boys are faring in the education system, and how these dreadful female teachers are feminising the poor little mites,- how they have no male role models, because there are so few male teachers (particularly in primary schools)
Yawn yawn yawn...
Simple facts are girls have been on the backfoot for years. Nobody gave a toss, when they were lagging behind educationally, and in some cases activly discourgaed from taking subjects which were considered male dominated.
Boys are having to wake up to the fact that their sense of entitlement is no longer acceptable.
So, thoughts.

agree RosieSunShine - we need primary schools with male teachers too

Noone I know - with either girls or boys - endlessly whinges about this. Not a topic that's come up.

Surely the point of equality is to create a level playing field for everyone, regardless of their sex.

If someone on another thread was saying 'so a few years, where things may not be particularly cushy for them is no real hardship surely?' about girls, would you think that was ok?

agree rosei

"Interestingly, boys tend to win out in the end,as they tend to do better in high school(particularly the latter years)"

Who told you that? Because fyi, it's incorrect. Or rather, outdated.

When I read this OP I wanted to give opinion, add wisdom; that kind of thing.

Now I am just howling with laughter at the erudite responses which far surpass my own thoughts.

My boy deserves the same entitlement to education to his needs as anyone else, regardless of his sex.

'balance' is fine.

Men and women should be equal and have equal opportunities.

However, being a working woman with a bigger wage than DH, a DS to look after and a bump aching me left, right and centre, I feel rather meh about HAVING to work so hard and not really having a choice to be a stay at home mum in the current economic climate. I'm also sick of being told 'well that's the way things are for women these days'. It doesn't seem to fit together marvellously well.

Yeah you touched a nerve when you said that my job (which I love) is "a low status occupation."

Other than that you haven't touched a nerve, just talked tripe not trite

(Trite is an adjective, not a noun)

Apologies for pedantry.

Why don't men want to teach in primary? Think about it. We can't force them.

ooo thats me as well feralgirl, was it teaching again? I love being low status me. A woman and with low status job but i have two boys...God I am seriously confused as to my position anywhere

What really fucks me off about this..pardon my use of french..is the implication that teaching is a low status occupation - since when?!....and the implication of women teachers being crap at teaching boys!...Wot utter crap! i'm a high school teacher of a traditionally "boys" subject and it's often commented that i do a particularly good job with the boys..i'm female by the way!

As if mums of boys moan like this...i have one of each..and i say celebrate the differences not say one sex is better than the other

I work my ARSE off to make my subject (secondary English) interesting to boys. Probably to the detriment of my girls tbh.

My experience is that some young primary female teachers are not that great at understanding boys (how could they be, having never been a boy and understanding the world through little boys' eyes?). Not all teachers - I am one (not primary though) but I would say before having my boys I certainly didn't understand boys as well as I do now.

Any parents of girls on here out of interest?

scottishmuumy, you're right and to be honest I wasn't really being serious about being overlooked - I've never gone for the promotions. But, how do you explain the inequality in pay? I really do think that women often lack the confidence to get ahead, despite often being more capable and experienced than their male counterparts. I'm not trying to slag off men, just trying to understand why it is that women are still financially worse off.

lark - I teach very bright young ladies and I would say they def do lack the confidence - they have a fear of failure too which sometimes holds them back . Knowing some of their brothers at the school down the road (selective as well) they are much more boisterous and willing to give things a go. I would agree with you there.

I don't blame you Totally for feeling meh, that is why I said it is quite a utopian concept and one we need to continue to work towards. I simply disagree with some definitions of feminism. "The way things are... " does need to change and going back to the OP it needs to change for little boys too.

I bet I am one of the mums always "whinging" that OP is talking about but that is the stage my little boy is at just now and I want the best for him. I also constantly "whinge" about issues that affect my daughter. We all talk about issues that directly affect us, wanting to raise awareness to effect change is not whinging in my book.

BTW I am coming across more and more male primary teachers. The problems with teaching affects men and women, they don't get paid enough for the enormous amount of work they do.

lo curryhead you assume you are getting pasting from Mims of boys

think again

getting a pasting because your post is shite

tut Scottishmummy. Shite? You surely mean uneducated and ill thought out?

"However, being a working woman with a bigger wage than DH, a DS to look after and a bump aching me left, right and centre, I feel rather meh about HAVING to work so hard and not really having a choice to be a stay at home mum in the current economic climate. I'm also sick of being told 'well that's the way things are for women these days'. It doesn't seem to fit together marvellously well."

Feminism wasn't about trapping women with a double burden, though. It was trying to stop women being lesser citizens. The problem is that once two income homes became established the cost of living rose to accommodate that. Most especially house prices. If house prices could only be a multiple of a single income (as was the case until the early 80s iirc) many more people could afford to be SAHM. The liberalisation of the mortgage market and the dual income mortage has caused this trap more than anything else IMO, not feminism per se.

I might not have girls...but I am one!

Just as your girls were presumably conceived with the help of a chap, Curryfreak?

agree perfectstorm

Women teachers are not crap at teaching boys. That sort of remark is just as stoopid.

lookey i composed well thought out posts about education/child development etc i can also say keech as an aside if i wish

Perfectstorm you keep saying it all so much better than me. I totally agree with you. Are you my much smarter older sister?

Great point, perfectstorm