"Boys make a camp. Girls make them some drinks" said DD's teacher today.

[Spidermama]

They're doing an enrichment and were doing outdoor activities. The teacher really did say, "Boys make a camp. Girls make them some drinks"

They're 14, nearly 15.

On what planet is that acceptable?

I want to complain but DD doesn't want me to.

Splitting the class up according to gender is downright lazy.

How terrible if stopping blatant sexism spoils things for everybody I'd far rather children were taught not to accept discrimination, malicious, lazy or otherwise.

I've also had several boyfriends be absolutely horrified when I explained to the, exactly what having a period entails. Seems not having been taught it at school, they had absolutely no idea what happens. One thought I just put a tampon in when the period started and took it out at the end

My point was not that boys shouldn't learn about reproduction. My point was that its completely pointless them practicing using a tampon.

I agree splitting a class on gender is lazy but that's not the same as sexism.

Why does it matter if boys are horrified when then find out about periods. There are plenty of things that are horrific in life, densest mean you should teach them all. This PC agenda that creates a unisex culture is abhorrent. Guess what, boys and girls are different, some rather would play house or make camp. Big whoop.

I'd be fascinated to learn just how boys practised using a tampon. Where did they put it? The mind boggles...

That's a question I didn't ask lol

I do know they used condoms on fruit, so maybe a blood orange?

But periods shouldn't be horrific taught as part of Biology they're just another fact of life.

Shouldn't boys and girls be given the choice as to whether they'd rather make camp or play house? Rather than have that decision made for them?

SorryCountingClouds but how hard is it to code a class by numbers - one, two, one, two - the ones put up the tents, the twos make drinks. Job done, no stupid sexism, takes seconds, There is no excuse for this.

We need more 'PC parents' to weed out the dinosaurs, not make excuses for sexist behaviour.

as long as the girls got the boys some ice cold beer I don't see what the problem is!

OP that is just shocking. I would talk to the teacher.

crikey most of the posters here are dinosaurs. Is nobody interested in the truth?

Of course there are other ways to do things but sometimes people do things that5 cant only be explained as, they are human beings. Its not possible to be a PC robot all the time.

Is there any possibility that the teacher grouped them like this to try to provoke a reaction, to prompt a discussion about stereotypes? That's my only hope.

Counting clouds - why on earth wouldn't it be a good idea for a man to know about tampons? What happens if your son finds himself a single dad of a daughter? I am a single mum to a son & have already had to answer his questions about his male parts!

RedHelenB - Do you live in a 'man desert'? Every child should have Male and female role models in their life. A female just cant answer all the questions a boy asks (nor should they), and vice versa.

So as well as casual endorsement of sexism, we can add "doesn't like single parents much" to your list of attitudes, Counting. Nice.

Well done OP for raising this with the school. (And even if it was unthinking sexism, there are numerous studies to show that drawing attention to difference, whether gender or race, reinforces stereotypes and leads to one group underperforming. Hell, you can even do it with eye colour!)

LLFrankie - this is the exactly the sort of PC nonsense that I am talking about. Exactly what about my comment suggests I dont like single parents much? i.e. nothing!

For all intents and purposes, yes - he is the only boy in the household. When he starts his wet dreams etc that will probably still be the case. Hence why sex education is a good idea. Really can't see the problem with men & women knowing about how each other's bodies work!

When did human biology become such a big secret anyway? Would you object to learning about animal biology?

FWIW when I was at school in the Netherlands, girls and boys were not separated for sex education. So the boys learned about tampons and the girls learned about wet dreams. Amazingly enough, nobody died.

But to some people, wanting to treat people equitably in terms of the information they get and the tasks we assign them is PC nonsense. What makes me laugh is that this makes us the dinosaurs.

"
" I am not even sure why its necessary to teach boys about periods?"

So that they understand how reproduction works? So the they have some idea about how the bodies of 50% of the population works?

Well as a teacher I think it's outrageous, and totally crap about splitting the class. I would have said, you, you and you do the camp, the others do the drinks

I'm always fascinated when people say the PC brigade "spoils things for people" it makes me wonder what they want to say and do that political correctness prevents them saying or doing!

I am glad that my DS would a) protest if a class was divided like that and giolrs told to make drinks and b) learned about periods so that he can be a woman-friendly man as he grows up.

Splitting tasks according to gender is sexism if the tasks given are unequal or neither group as the opportunity to do the task the other group is practising at that time. It is particularly true if one of the tasks involves a subordinate role - such as serving drinks or being the assistant and not given a chance to lead and one gender is always given the subordinate role.

Did the boys wait on the girls during dinner?

I would have complained about this one - it is so dismissive.

Can you imagine "white kids make camp, black kids get them drinks"???????? - no, not really.