Would you send DD to male majority middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am also a female STEM professional and have been in the minority in classes and school. It's not been an issue.

My own middle school DD would not enjoy it, but that's because she vastly prefers female friendships right now. For a different kid, I think it would be just fine.

Same. My college was over 90% male. I met females and became friends with them and it wasn’t an issue.

But as you said, this wouldn’t be a good fit for my daughter. You know your kid. We don’t.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the class size. Its no big deal if there's 100 kids in the grade but is a problem if its only 25. My DD goes to a small private and her grade in middle school is very gender imbalanced (more boys than girls, although its more 75/25). It is a problem socially as well as academically. If we would have known going in that it would be the case, we would have chosen another school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:60% male means it is 40% female right? I'm guessing that they will never been the only girl in the room.
As a STEM professional, for large parts of my career I was in the minority and I never felt uncomfortable.

17% nonbinary

Relax, it’s not Brown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the class size. Its no big deal if there's 100 kids in the grade but is a problem if its only 25. My DD goes to a small private and her grade in middle school is very gender imbalanced (more boys than girls, although its more 75/25). It is a problem socially as well as academically. If we would have known going in that it would be the case, we would have chosen another school.

OP here- Could you tell me more about the academic issues that arise from the gender imbalance at your DD's school? I'm considering sending my DD to a school known for the academics, and I hadn't considered that a different gender imbalance might affect her academically.

Socially, I'm not sure it could be any worse than her current school, which has a lot more girls than boys, and all the drama that arises from that. Academically, she runs circles around the other kids and says everything is too easy and boring (which is probably a major source of her social troubles.)

[Anonymous]

No, I wouldn't. Middle school is a formative time, and it's established fact that girls get shouted down by male classmates and overlooked by teachers. Why on earth would you send your daughter into a situation like that? I know some people will say it will "toughen her up" for "the real world," but 11-13 is not the time for this. More like throwing her to the wolves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I wouldn't. Middle school is a formative time, and it's established fact that girls get shouted down by male classmates and overlooked by teachers. Why on earth would you send your daughter into a situation like that? I know some people will say it will "toughen her up" for "the real world," but 11-13 is not the time for this. More like throwing her to the wolves.

Shut your pie hole

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I wouldn't. Middle school is a formative time, and it's established fact that girls get shouted down by male classmates and overlooked by teachers. Why on earth would you send your daughter into a situation like that? I know some people will say it will "toughen her up" for "the real world," but 11-13 is not the time for this. More like throwing her to the wolves.

Shut your pie hole

Amazing contribution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I wouldn't. Middle school is a formative time, and it's established fact that girls get shouted down by male classmates and overlooked by teachers. Why on earth would you send your daughter into a situation like that? I know some people will say it will "toughen her up" for "the real world," but 11-13 is not the time for this. More like throwing her to the wolves.

I’m a middle school teacher and agree although I’d never admit it on a non-anonymous forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the class size. Its no big deal if there's 100 kids in the grade but is a problem if its only 25. My DD goes to a small private and her grade in middle school is very gender imbalanced (more boys than girls, although its more 75/25). It is a problem socially as well as academically. If we would have known going in that it would be the case, we would have chosen another school.

OP here- Could you tell me more about the academic issues that arise from the gender imbalance at your DD's school? I'm considering sending my DD to a school known for the academics, and I hadn't considered that a different gender imbalance might affect her academically.

Socially, I'm not sure it could be any worse than her current school, which has a lot more girls than boys, and all the drama that arises from that. Academically, she runs circles around the other kids and says everything is too easy and boring (which is probably a major source of her social troubles.)

In our experience, the impact on academics come from a rowdy class dynamic. A room full of middle school boys with a few tokens girls thrown is had a very different dynamic than a more balanced class. The boys are loud and rowdy and sports dominates everything. They seem to flip between from ignoring all the girls to outward hostility to their participation in the class. When we have raised some of these issues with teachers at our conferences they have made comments that this class is just so different and they can tell that the class is missing the more mature balance that more girls would bring. This is a private school so there's no kids who are multiple grade levels behind of throwing chairs or anything; its more subtle. The girls just find the dynamics exhausting. It is also very frustrating for the girl to always be the only girl in group break outs or group assignments. The boys also heavily dominate the honors track so its especially hard to be a girl in honors math or science. Some teachers do better than others but its not a single-sex school so they don't have the experience. Like some of the PPs, I and a female in a male dominated field but that doesn't mean I think my 12 YO DD should be the only girl in the room in middle school. Who knows if 60/40 is really enough to create this type of culture or it may be that my DD's experience is made worse by the personalities of the boys in her class who really push more of a bro culture. There are lots of variables that will come into play.

[Anonymous]

Yes. If it’s 40/60. I wouldn’t if it was 75/25.

[Anonymous]

Is this a small private school? If yes I would not do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I wouldn't. Middle school is a formative time, and it's established fact that girls get shouted down by male classmates and overlooked by teachers. Why on earth would you send your daughter into a situation like that? I know some people will say it will "toughen her up" for "the real world," but 11-13 is not the time for this. More like throwing her to the wolves.

I’m a middle school teacher and agree although I’d never admit it on a non-anonymous forum.

I have seen this dynamic far too often and also agree.

[Anonymous]

How does a middle school end up majority male?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a small private school? If yes I would not do it.

It has averaged about 110 kids per grade for the past 5 years or so. Not too small, but much smaller than our zoned public middle school option, which is about 350 kids per grade recently. This specialty school has a big waitlist that doesn't move much from what I've gathered, so it's not even guaranteed that my DD would get in, but it seems to be very desireable for many.

Thanks to all the PPs sharing their insights and experiences with this type of thing.

[Anonymous]

I guess it would depend on the why.

My biggest concern is that your daughter seems to be developing a " not like the other girls/better than the other girls attitude"

And you are feeding into it.