Is MCPS biased against boys?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I would be very happy with single sex public school classrooms until 8th grade so the girls can learn more and the boys can be boys, I guess.

As a boy parent, I want my kids educated at school and not run wild and do no academics as other parents don't feel their boys are capable. Ever consider parenting is part of the problem.

NP

Never, I sent my kids to an all boys school that had outdoor activities 1st period, then school, then science outside, then reading outside weather permitting, then lunch, recess, then 1 class, sports, math

I never once thought that they thrived in that environment vs the other was a parenting issue.

NP. I think you hit the nail on the head. It's not just an MCPS problem. While acknowledging that were are making gender-based generalizations that don't apply to all kids, on balance, boys tend to mature a bit slower than girls and have more trouble with attention and lack of physical movement during the day. A school day that incorporates movement, including daily gym and or recess, is helpful for these boys and better for all students. The problem is that we can't do that outside of private schools. We compound the problem of lack of movement by increasing academic expectations from a young age. Any student who doesn't meet the ideal student standard of labeled as a bad student with bad parents. I have one of those spirited boys (and another who isn't), and I sometimes wonder if my parenting, which was constantly punishing my son and taking away privileges, did more harm than if I had used a more hands-off approach. From the beginning, my kid was a square peg being beaten into a round hole, and he internalized the message that what he was was not enough.

But even you are making negative assumptions about characteristics that are associated with boys… “mature more slowly” “have trouble with attention” etc.

Yes, public schools can provide play-based learning in the younger years, provide more outdoor time for all kids, etc. As our academic expectations for younger kids have gotten more intense, their levels of achievement have not improved and more kids have been labeled special needs and medicated. Perhaps we could go back to a time when we saved the more rigorous academics for later years. Our country seemed to have no problem generating literate and creative people in the 60s and 70s. In reality, all day kindergarten was implemented to provide day care. Let’s just make it play-based and be honest.

MCPS has had all day K for many years. Personally I don't like play based and it was a disaster for my kids. They did much better in more structured, academic preschools and that really prepared them for K. It hasn't gotten more intense or changed. What has changed is lax parenting and its easier to have less so parents don't have to be involved.

Yes, it has been many years, which is why I compared it to the 60s and 70s. And the expectations for K and 1st grade have absolutely become more intense and have changed. The use of devices by small kids only exacerbates some of the problems. We can agree that parenting has become more lax while holding school systems responsible for their failed policies.

And the experiences of your children are not data.

People like you are the problem. Plenty of our boys did great. These kids need structure and academics. They can play at home. They did not get the structure and support at home and in preschool so of course the struggle to adjust. Feel free to wait till your kids are 7-8 to send them to k when they are able to behave. Let the rest of our kids go for an education.

I am an educator and the mother of 3 boys who also were able to sit still. Again, you are missing all of the points, including that research shows that kids pushed young do not end up ahead. Population research, not your kids. If you can’t understand that you need to look at experience and data outside your own life, you don’t have anything to contribute to the conversation.

Funny, mine kids were encouraged academically and years later doing well because of that strong foundation. In MCPS, they don't catch things like reading disorders early so waiting to have kids read is a huge disservice to them, especially when you wait till 3-4th to provide actual services and supports when its too little too late.

Most kids do better with structure and academics early on. These kids cannot behave because they were never taught at home or at preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many teachers in MCPS classroom value obedience more than anything else.

If your kids cannot behave in a classroom and you want to ignore their bad behavior, why don't you homeschool?

[Anonymous]

https://ideas.time.com/2013/10/28/what-schools-can-do-to-help-boys-succeed/

“Boys are treated like defective girls.”