“Have Today’s Schools Failed Male Students?”

Why Are We Not Teaching Boys Effectively in Schools?

Patricia Dalton discusses why we are not teaching boys effectively in schools. The shooting at a high school, which appears to be one of the effects of failing male students in schools, is used by the author to illustrate her point in the opening paragraph of her piece. The author makes the point that people often fail to notice cues that indicate what requirements male students have. According to Dalton, parents and educators should consider the acts of violence that boys have committed, evaluate how they conduct their lives, and consider how adults have expressed expectations for boys to assist them in resolving conflicts. To provide an understanding of how the parents and schools have neglected boys, Patricia Dalton says that the community has focused more on the females than the males in the way they have taught students and in particular studies, also called single-sex education. Patricia says that many recent studies report that boys might get upset and lose confidence more simply than girls. Patricia further describes the contrast between girls and boys in the way they show their feelings and depression. The paper will discuss the various ways in which the male child has been neglected in the schools.

Boys Exhibit Slower Maturity Rate Compared to Girls

Boys exhibit slower maturity rate compared to girls. The author shows the fact that boys mature more slowly than girls and gives some examples of the consequences. For instance, the author says that girls reach the cognitive milestone essential for performing well in school earlier than the boys (Dalton, Patricia 192). Furthermore, girls are typically ready to learn than the boys. This makes the boys feel less successful and learning disabled. Patricia Dalton suggests a way helping boys to get rid of their intense emotion is by playing sports. The author completes the article by claiming that adults need to show males their love, appreciation so that they can trust and value themselves.

Boys Often Externalize Their Problems

Boys often externalize their problems rather than share them with other people. In this article, Patricia starts her argument by giving the examples of shooting in high schools are mostly done by boys. She claims that the primary reason is the boys get stressed in schools, so they did that to express their feelings (Dalton, Patricia 191). I disagree with her reasoning because I trust that the suspects are often mentally challenged or try to get the attention of others. This has nothing to do with the school system; nevertheless, it shows that a more significant problem exists behind shooting in the school, like gun regulations, bullying problems among others. Therefore, boys need to be discouraged from indulging in strikes and using illegal weapons as a way of expressing themselves. They should, however, be encouraged to interact and share their problems with others.

Schools Have Implemented Policies That Favor Females and Discriminate Males

Schools have implemented policies that favor females and discriminate the males. The author gives some explanations and examples to how schools and adults are failing male students particularly the methods people teach them and show how they care about boys. I approve most of the reasons that Patricia discusses in the article. Firstly, adults have concentrated more on girls than boys. For example, there are many workshops in schools, most of the workshops relating to social skills beneficial for girls more than for boys (Dalton, Patricia 193). The argument might be that school and parents think girls are susceptible and weak. Thus they need to be protected more than boys in most instances. Nevertheless, it is true that boys also need to get protection from adults as much and adequately as girls do. Additionally, during my high school time, typically teachers helped the girls first or attended to their questions better. Furthermore, schools do not provide enough time for the boys to work off excess energy in class. They have shortened the lunch breaks to increase the learning time. This has caused adverse effects on the males because they do not have ample time to relax and share their problems with other people. The author says that schools have not made efforts to handle the different rates of maturity among the females and males. Parents have been forced to hold the boys because they believe that boys are not ready for first grade and should go only go to school after they mature.

Conclusion

I agree that while adults are typically more demanding to boys rather than the opposite sex, a school needs to be observant to both genders equally. It should focus developing students’ different skills, behaviors, and personalities without discrimination. School also needs to pay attention to the challenges encountered by students in the learning process and students problems that might be a hindrance to their development. Concerning her suggestion that boys should begin school later than girls to let them be more developed and ready when entering school, I do not see the need for doing that. It is not definite that boys will be more mature and prepared by delaying the age of learning. The community should not only think about the issues of violence affecting the boys but should also focus on looking at their daily lives both inside the school and outside.

Work Cited

Dalton, Patricia. “Have Today’s Schools Failed Male Students. The Reader’s Corner. Ed. Carol Kanar. 5th ed. US: Cengage Learning, 2014. 191-193.