10 January 2014
How are our boys doing?
In this recent article, What Schools Can Do to Help Boys Succeed , Christina Hoff Sommers shares her thinking about boys and the typical school environment. I am interested to know what you think about her three main points. Feel free to comment. I think there are some universal principles in her work which apply to girls as well.
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Boys will be boys…The author, Christina Hoff Sommers, highlights three recommendations for educators to help boys succeed: more recess, turn boys into readers, and foster the imagination of the young male. Kids in Japan get ten minutes of play per hour. Our Health Committee has helped address this exercise issue by implementing daily ideas for exercise and Brain Gym has been popular as well. It seems like even if it is not exercise, more breaks put into the schedule helps boys and girls. According to research, boys lag behind girls in reading test scores. One way to counteract that trend, according to Sommers, is have up-to-date reading materials, and more male reading role models. Our library has been helpful in the past for me of getting reading books for boys who have difficulty finding a book they like and our building has offered a boys reading club in the past run by males. Often times you have a boy that wants to read or write about war, Star Wars, weapons and these types of topics may get discouraged by the teacher (Sommer’ words, not mine.) According to Sommers, teachers should embrace “the interests and enthusiasms” to move them into “becoming educated young men.” Boys will be boys, so let them! -Mike
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