Boy Culture

Boys' culture isn't working in schools today. We have this stereotype of what we believe genders should be and are most interested in. The 100 girls statistics compare the number of girls with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, and behavioral problems to that of boys. The number of boys with each of these issues was consistently and significantly higher than the number of girls with the same problems. Why are boys facing these issues in staggering number compared to girls? First off, teachers seem to have a "zero tolerance" policy that doesn't allow boys to express themselves in ways that most interest them. Teachers seem to believe that boys interest in blowing things up, rough housing, and guns deems them to be inappropriate and in dire need of psychological help. Secondly, there aren't any men teaching elementary school children. Boys do not see men in their classrooms and ultimately conclude that it must not be a place for boys. Lastly, we have a compression of curriculum that requires students to learn in Kindergarten what they used to learn in second grade. The pressure that is placed on teachers doesn't allow active students to express themselves....at all. So what can we as future teachers to help this crisis? We need to throw ourselves into boys culture! First, we can design better games that will rival those that boys are interested in. We need to change our zero tolerance policy and allow boys to be boys in order for them to not lose interest in classwork. Gaming shouldn't be looked down on by educators, but embraced and used as a tool instead. As educators, we should do everything in our power to reengage boys in school, and to do so, we MUST embrace boy culture...and not ignore, deny, or belittle it for one more second.