No Recess = Boy Trouble

Here's a terrific article from Georgia about how poor black kids in kindergarten and first grade aren't getting any recess.

www.macon.com/198/story/491586.html
Here's a paragraph:

One of the reasons is that Hartley has no swing sets or slides. There's just an old basketball court that's missing its goals. The terrain is uneven, with a 10-foot embankment behind the building.

But another reason Hartley has no recess is that the elementary school is trying to get students passing grade-level reading and math tests to meet goals under the No Child Left Behind law. The school didn't make it this past school year, and trying to catch up cuts in to play time.

"A lot of times in areas like this, so much emphasis is placed on testing, testing, testing," McKenzie said. "You want your children to be able to compete, and we're a test-driven society."

Check out the story. And note: the parents who are quoted in the story don't have any idea that they are sending their little children into school for six hours and they get no time for free play.
Think this is a good idea for any kids? Think this is a good idea for boys?

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Are Boys Trailing Girls Around The Globe?

So how does the underachievement of boys in the U.S compare with the rest of the world?

Short answer: In most of the industrialized countries, in places where girls have equal access to education, boys are lagging.

Here's an article from Cambodia in this morning's papers decrying the way boys are falling behind there.

Just 65.92 percent of male students passed the high school exam this year, compared with 77.26 percent of females.
The ministry says it is preparing an action plan to encourage male high school students to pay more attention to studies.
Similar findings have long been identified in Western countries, including the US, Australia and parts of Europe.

Interestingly, the government education ministry there is already expressing concern abut the problem and ready to take action. Not here.

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A Recipe for How To Teach Boys

This came in the other day from M. Bradley Rogers, Jr. the Headmaster at the Gow School, a private school for boys with learning issues in South Wales, N.Y.

He writes, "May I share with you a few ideas from one dad/schoolmaster's recipe for the boys? I do my best to model and teach the following:
· Work hard, then play hard.
· Sing and make music.
· Treat them (girls) like gold and "no" means no.
· Be strong and help others.
· Set goals and list the behaviors needed to achieve.
· War movies do have value.
· Go build a real tree fort from scraps of wood – not from a kit.
· Explore a stream and catch the crayfish.
· Ride a snowmobile.
· Apologize when wrong.
· Help change a flat tire even if you are only five years old.
· Tell the bully to back off the kid he is taunting.
· Get muddy.
· Respect elders and hold them when they struggle to walk."

Nice, right?

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