Women don't scare me Vic, I love them all and celebrate their differences ...
Not blaming the girls at all Heather, and you're right on the mark! ...
That's right Bob, and the boys are merely collateral damage ...
That is a great article David, I apologise once again for the hijack.
Invalidating a complete gender and activly making decisions to deem that gender 'irrelevant' seems something akin to the race issues of the Fifties and Sixties.
What's disturbing is that discrimination has to be taught. And unfortunately David, your article may not be that far fetched, going on some shared experiences in one local Primary School this last year.
In my post above I mentioned the school's awards night.
This event didn't escape the attention of other parents either. Sadder still, other boys echoed the same phrase to me that night, "Oh, girls are so much better than boys!"
There were 58
boys suspended from that school last TERM for behavioral and attitude reasons.
Of the 58 families affected by the suspensions, 32 of the boys
ALL rated highly in the NAPLAN results for year Seven, scoring - 7s, 8s and 9s. (non of whom received any 'academic' awards).
AND, there were more boys in the 7-8-9s than girls (I got those stats from the principle)
The total school enrollment is 373, made up of 172 girls and 201 boys, 58 boys suspended (do the math)
No, this school is not in a lower socio-economic area ..
Speaking on behalf of the lad, he gets bored easily. He finishes his school work then completes his homework in class. He has been suspended from class twice this last year for 'attitude' (three strikes and you're out rule). Both times he was sent home
without any school work to keep up. I had to intervene both times to get his workbooks so he could be tutored for the week/s. My concern was that he may be left behind - He breezed through all the work.
Long story short, 32 families have run the complaint gauntlet - Discussed their complaints with the class teacher, the principal and then the district office -all to no avail.
Recently, 32 letters have been forwarded to the Director-General Education -also to no avail.
Finally, after last week, the Office of the Ombudsman has been contacted.
The main complaints against the school's administration - selectively impeding education to primary classes, gender bias in the classroom and failure to inform and involve parents on behavioral issues. - I'll keep you posted.
I can't help but wonder how all the other schools are faring with their 'Boy' problem ....