Brandi brought home a notice today, asking if parents would be interested in attending a meeting at the school to discuss splitting the kids into gender specific classrooms.They want to have these classes available for parents, if they choose this for their kids. They will also have traditional boy/girls classrooms, and I think that is where I want Brandi to stay. The notice listed the following benefits for the kids being in classrooms that are gender specific, and to me, they are not compelling enough for me to pull Brandi out of a traditional classroom.
typical benefits for girls
- more interest in and enthusiasm for math and science
- more academically inclined
- spend more time on task in the classroom
- more open to discuss sensitive issues and concerns
- more interest in classroom participation
- more likely to study more advanced levels of mathematics and science
- accept and develop leadership roles
- fewer gender distractions
- less likely to have stereotypical views of females in the workplace
- enjoy school more
typical benefits for boys
- better chance of being on the college preparatory road
- more development of reading and writing skills
- better chance of not dropping out of high school
- more focused participation
- more open to discuss issues and concerns
- learn collaborative working strategies
- fewer gender distractions
- less likely to have stereotypical view of females
- develop a positive attitude toward school
- less discipline referrals
- less referrals for special education
Now, that is just my opinion. I am really interested to know if any of you moms out there have you kids in these types of classes. If so, do you see the benefits? Are there disadvantages?
I do not have to make my mind up today, though I did say I was not interested in attending the meeting. Junior agrees with me. In fact, I asked his opinion first, that way he wasn't swayed by mine. I just hope that they don't decide to make the whole school gender specific classrooms. I really think us parents should have a choice, especially in a public school.
6 comments:
Well, I think it depends on a case to case basis.
I really think this would help boys more then girls. Boys just have to move more and be more hands on. At least that is true with my boys and their friends.
Inspirations Unlimited ~ it is different for everyone, that is why I am not sure if generally grouping by gender is the solution. There are boys who do as well as girls, and girls who have the same maturity issues as boys. Grouping classrooms by gender will not fix all the issues, and I honestly believe that it may cause more harm then good.
Tammy ~ I know my Ryan has different issues with school work than my girls. For him, if he is allowed to do projects/reports on the computer, he aces them. If he is required to write them out, he wants no part of it. I am just worried that deciding what is best for a group of kids based on the needs of a few may make things more difficult for the kids who do well regardless. I think I need to do a little more research on this.
I really want to know how moms who have kids in these kind of classes feel, because it could also be a case of my not having enough information about all of this.
You know, I have such conflicting opinions on this. I see how it could be beneficial to each, but really, it isn't helping them for the real world. They aren't going to separate the office into a boys side and a girls side. And, as much as I wish it was a better place to live, this world doesn't change for us, we must learn to live IN it.
Vicki ~ that is so true! How can they learn to respect the opposite sex when they have no interaction with them?
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