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Old 05-26-2012, 11:17 AM
 
Location: North Carolina
102 posts, read 311,744 times
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I'm a male, and I was always at the top of my class. I graduated high school 9 months early, I was a junior marshal during my junior year, I was in the top fifteen in my class (a class of over 300), and I did well in school. I also made an 1885 on the SAT. I'm the youngest person to ever be accepted to my nursing program, I currently have a 3.84 GPA, and I'm the top academically in the class.

I've never bought into the theory that schools favor girls more than boys, or that boys are disadvantaged when it comes to education. To be honest, most of the guys I knew during high school were lazy. They didn't care about their grades, they didn't care about going to college, and they had no motivation. They were either obsessed with sports, obsessed with girls/guys, or obsessed with video games, TV, and comics. They wanted to party and have fun, and they cared not what their grades were, or how they did in school.

I think a lot of boys are like this. I feel that girls are generally more conscientious of their grades, and that guys are frequently more careless when it comes to academics. I know that this has proven true during the majority of my academic career.
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Old 05-26-2012, 10:15 PM
 
Location: Saint Louis, MO
1,197 posts, read 2,271,003 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by randomparent View Post
Thank you for making this point. What many people may not also realize is that NJHS is a service organization that requires a significant commitment of time and effort beyond school work; it's not simply a reward for a high grade point average. Here's a link for more information:

NJHS
Thank you as well. That is another important factor. In many cases I think girls at that age are much more likely to have that "caring heart" that is needed for someone to want to make the commitment to serve in NJHS or NHS.
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Old 05-26-2012, 10:18 PM
 
Location: Saint Louis, MO
1,197 posts, read 2,271,003 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NCRNStudent View Post
I'm a male, and I was always at the top of my class. I graduated high school 9 months early, I was a junior marshal during my junior year, I was in the top fifteen in my class (a class of over 300), and I did well in school. I also made an 1885 on the SAT. I'm the youngest person to ever be accepted to my nursing program, I currently have a 3.84 GPA, and I'm the top academically in the class.

I've never bought into the theory that schools favor girls more than boys, or that boys are disadvantaged when it comes to education. To be honest, most of the guys I knew during high school were lazy. They didn't care about their grades, they didn't care about going to college, and they had no motivation. They were either obsessed with sports, obsessed with girls/guys, or obsessed with video games, TV, and comics. They wanted to party and have fun, and they cared not what their grades were, or how they did in school.

I think a lot of boys are like this. I feel that girls are generally more conscientious of their grades, and that guys are frequently more careless when it comes to academics. I know that this has proven true during the majority of my academic career.
I think this is true to an extent. But I do think there are a lot of guys that do care about their grades because they recognize the future benefits of have good grades. I don't however think they have the maturity to recognize the benefit they get from serving others.
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Old 05-27-2012, 11:38 AM
 
3,086 posts, read 7,590,470 times
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I second the posts stating that NJHS is a service organization in which you must apply to belong. There are many, many students who would qualify, but don't bother to apply. Some don't because they aren't interested, some don't really understand what it is and some don't have time for the commitment it takes.

My daughter who just finished 8th grade is in the top 2% of her class, but didn't choose to apply. She missed out on some great opportunities this past year, but it was her choice and I did not know until after the fact that she didn't apply. Now she knows what kind of organization it is, how it can help and will choose to apply once in High School and able to do so.

Since I have right here at my desk the awards program I can tell you that there were 18 boys and 43 girls in our NJHS.
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Old 05-27-2012, 01:16 PM
 
13,250 posts, read 33,391,611 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by okaydorothy View Post
My boys are in 6th and 7th grade. Last week there was a ceremony for the National Honors society. It is a small school. But I was curious about how many boys made the list.

Out of 44 kids in 6th grade, not one boy made national honors. there were at least 10 girls.

Out of 42 kids in 7th grade, only 1 boy made national honors. Again, there were a few girls.

Out of about 40 kids in 8th grade, only 2 boys made the list. I dont know about the girls.

Now before anyone says ; I am just mad that my kids didnt make it, I am not. I am just wondering how and why so few boys made it and so many girls made it.

One son says that some teachers only ask the girls for answers and never call on the boys. Others only call on the girls that will give the correct answers.

My kids do well in school ; A,B and C's. We are about to move to a different district. But I was just wondering if we are shortchanging the boys and concentrating on the girls?
Let's stay on the main topic of this OP ^. I think everyone understands that she meant JUNIOR honor society and that it's a service organization that one must apply to, and is not automatically accepted into because of good grades.
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Old 05-27-2012, 01:33 PM
 
Location: The New England part of Ohio
23,897 posts, read 32,207,052 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Momma_bear View Post
I think that what you are seeing in your school is the result of education being perceived as a "feminine" activity. After all, most teachers are women and boys in middle school do not want to be perceived as weak or girlie. Since doing well in school equates to doing well at a female dominated activity many boys do not want to be seen as excelling in that area. In short, many boys see doing well in school as emasculating.

I don't think anyone in schools is doing anything to purposely make boys perform poorly. Rather it is a by product of the feminization of schools. I think that the feminization of schools is a result of poor teacher pay and low social status for teachers.

Here is an intersting blog on the issue.

Socialization and male academic performance - Theron McInnis - Open Salon

Edited to add: At our school NHJS has many more girls than boys. In high school approximately 75% of NHS members at our school are boys.

Very true. There are also class issues involved. In Donna Gaines seminal book "Teenage Wasteland", she speaks of the way education is perceived by individuals from working class backgrounds.

Since writing this book over 20 years ago, a shift has taken place in America. When discussing people from working class backgrounds, more woman than ever are perusing higher education.
Many in education.

For the first time in history, most US teachers are females who are first generation college attendees.

In that social strata, gender is specific and discrete. "Boys will be boys and girls can be teachers." That's kind of the unwritten credo.

The women who are teaching our sons, overwhelmingly, have low and dismal expectations when it comes to boys.
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Old 05-27-2012, 06:40 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
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I am old enough to remember the days when elementary kids sat in straight rows in assigned seats; you had to raise your hand to speak; you were expected to sit quietly until directed to do otherwise, etc. Virtually all elementary teachers were women, and most were in jr high/high school as well. Yet, generally, boys outperformed girls at all levels, more males than females went to college, to grad school, med school, etc. Now, we do all these things to make schools more "boy friendly" and the girls outperform the guys, at all levels.
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Old 05-27-2012, 06:59 PM
 
11,642 posts, read 23,828,501 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana View Post
I am old enough to remember the days when elementary kids sat in straight rows in assigned seats; you had to raise your hand to speak; you were expected to sit quietly until directed to do otherwise, etc. Virtually all elementary teachers were women, and most were in jr high/high school as well. Yet, generally, boys outperformed girls at all levels, more males than females went to college, to grad school, med school, etc. Now, we do all these things to make schools more "boy friendly" and the girls outperform the guys, at all levels.
I am also old enough to remember those days. However, in my elementary school (K-6) there were quite a few male teachers in 4-6 grade. We also had a male principal and a male assistant principal. We had male teachers for gym and art.

When my sons went to elementary school (PK-5) there were no male classroom teachers. There was one male PE teacher. The principal was a female. The AP was a woman. There was ONE male instructional staff in the whole school. ONE.

I do think that the perception of education as a feminine pursuit is the reason why so many boys do not care about school. They do not see any reason to care about it. It is a feminine pursuit of no interest to them.

Of course there are some boys who do well in school. My sons do really well in school. They have some friends that do really well in school. However, when you go to any academic awards ceremonies you definitely see that girls outnumber boys about 2 to 1.
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Old 05-27-2012, 10:37 PM
 
652 posts, read 1,049,421 times
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We don't have the NJHS at our school. I'm not sure that OP makes the case for shortchanging the boys be her example, but it is an interesting questions.

Much of the language arts and social studies curriculum seems to be formatted in a way to be quite boring to males, in the early elementary grades.
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Old 05-28-2012, 07:34 AM
 
5,047 posts, read 5,764,750 times
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I agree with the language arts ; gosh it is boring for them. But social studies ; my kids ace that.
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