Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Ruf's latest blog - boys and troubles in school

Perhaps she generalizes a wee bit much, but interesting nonetheless.

http://educationaloptions.wordpress.com/

Very interesting. You know when she describes the difference between herself and her brother at school, I was thinking of my two girls. The younger daughter is more likely to behave like her little brother....I've always assumed it was more of a birth order thing.......

Something to think about.

hmmm - my brother was a year ahead, and he was the one getting in trouble and i was the goody-two shoes. I'm sure there's a combo of gender, birth order, and personality in there somewhere.

That was a good blog post. Here is another interesting article along those lines.

http://www.brainy-child.com/article/boys-behavior.shtml

I think Ruf does generalize often. I'm sure it's a YMMV kind of thing. But my oldest, who is my son, is in general a pretty easy going kid. He follows rules at home no problem. He totally understands consequences. We don't discipline him much because we don't have to. But sitting in a classroom all day, he definitely had a much harder time sitting still, staying engaged, and not being disruptive. He probably wasn't in the top 3 behavioral problems in the class, but he certainly wasn't in the bottom half. But at home, I definitely consider him my easier kid. My daughter however, follows classroom rules to a fault at 4 (she directs other children to follow the rules too), but is definitely my "wild child" at home. She loves to push our buttons.

I had a younger brother. He was just like Ruf's younger brother. And I honestly think he was probably naturally smarter than me. Or at least he didn't have the OE's to overcome that I had. But he was totally underchallenged in school and it took him many adult years to develop any kind of work ethic.

This ties into the parents' reaction to school structure and red shirting for social development. I agree that she is generalizing but the blog piece is interesting. I have to question her reasoning when it comes to girls and the goody two shoes concept... I fear that she is over generalizing that to make her point about schools failing boys. Girls are clearly at risk for their reverse behavior of trying to fit in and taking on the role of the goody two shoes which can lead to the dummying down issues.

Thanks for posting it.

This is very interesting as I was just having this very discussion with a friend yesterday. I am in my kids school very often and have noticed that the boys are (generally) the ones being left behind. Even if it is considered an over generalization, I think there is still truth in the blog. Thanks for posting!

My kids are the exact opposite of what she is describing. LOL. My DS is the one with his hands in his lap behaving, and DD is causing lots of ruckus.

I read a book along the same lines as Ruf's blog "The Trouble with Boys." Much of what it says rang very true. And if the stats are correct and continue as projected, we're in for some tough times ahead.

I read another very interesting book-- it was by Leonard Sax-- Boys adrift : the five factors driving the growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men.

These are the five factors he listed:
The first factor : changes at school --
The second factor : video games --
The third factor : medications for ADHD --
The fourth factor : endocrine disruptors --
The fifth factor : the revenge of the forsaken gods

He claims the research shows that ADHD meds may make for more docile boys, but permanently drain young men of ambition. (I don't know if it's true!)

He also claimed that video games permanently alter the makeup of kids' brains.

Endocrine disruptors are environmental estrogens-- plastics, etc.-- which disrupt the development of both sexes--make girls develop early and boys not at all.

The fifth factor, what he calls "revenge of the forsake gods" had I think to do with the Neitzchian (sp?) concept of the will to power, which grips boys in a way that it does not grip girls.