Gender Differences: Leonard Sax
This weekend at Powell's books in Portland, I bought two books y Leonard Sax. Having read the first, well researched chapter, in each one, I am very excited to dig in!
The first one is called Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men.
The second one is called Girls on the Edge: The Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls.
Both books are written by Dr. Sax who is a huge advocate of single sex schools. http://www.singlesexschools.org/ I don't have a strong opinion on this topic (though I may after I read his books), but here's what has gotten me so interested in this pair of books.
On the boys side, the decline in achievement is attributed to video games, teaching methods, prescription drugs, environmental toxins and devaluation of masculinity. As many of us know, there is a lot of over medication of young boys who have ADHD.
Being on the front lines of this, having participated in MANY staffing meetings over the years, I have seen that there are some boys who have been diagnosed with ADHD and have a very difficult time making friends and learning. For some of these boys medicine has been a life saver.
On the other hand, I have seen many a teacher "complaining" about a child who is very hands on or learning in a different way. Kids that are very curious, talk out, or fidget are often brought up at a staffing meeting. If the parent is not interested in going to a doctor and looking into the possibility of meds, the teacher leaves the meeting very disgruntled. I can understand why. I have taught in some classes where one challenging kid makes me thank my lucky stars that I am not the full time teacher in that classroom. Sometimes, after a half hour lesson with a particular class, I am exhausted beyond belief.
This bespeaks to the fact that somehow the way we teach is not perfect for some of the little curious boys who want to move and explore.
But I also love the way he weaves in media and nutrition/environmental toxins. Because these are the modern ills of society I believe and may be contributing to the decreased attention span.
On the girls side, he talks about sexual identity, the cyberbubble, obsessions and environmental toxins. I have read many a book on the sexual identity of girls and cyber-bullying, but adding the nutrition/environmental/early puberty piece is very intriguing to me. And putting these two works together, points to my belief that two of the things we really need to focus on right now in helping our children are:
1. Nutrition
2. Our relationship to the screen
The first one is called Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men.
The second one is called Girls on the Edge: The Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls.
Both books are written by Dr. Sax who is a huge advocate of single sex schools. http://www.singlesexschools.org/ I don't have a strong opinion on this topic (though I may after I read his books), but here's what has gotten me so interested in this pair of books.
On the boys side, the decline in achievement is attributed to video games, teaching methods, prescription drugs, environmental toxins and devaluation of masculinity. As many of us know, there is a lot of over medication of young boys who have ADHD.
Being on the front lines of this, having participated in MANY staffing meetings over the years, I have seen that there are some boys who have been diagnosed with ADHD and have a very difficult time making friends and learning. For some of these boys medicine has been a life saver.
On the other hand, I have seen many a teacher "complaining" about a child who is very hands on or learning in a different way. Kids that are very curious, talk out, or fidget are often brought up at a staffing meeting. If the parent is not interested in going to a doctor and looking into the possibility of meds, the teacher leaves the meeting very disgruntled. I can understand why. I have taught in some classes where one challenging kid makes me thank my lucky stars that I am not the full time teacher in that classroom. Sometimes, after a half hour lesson with a particular class, I am exhausted beyond belief.
This bespeaks to the fact that somehow the way we teach is not perfect for some of the little curious boys who want to move and explore.
But I also love the way he weaves in media and nutrition/environmental toxins. Because these are the modern ills of society I believe and may be contributing to the decreased attention span.
On the girls side, he talks about sexual identity, the cyberbubble, obsessions and environmental toxins. I have read many a book on the sexual identity of girls and cyber-bullying, but adding the nutrition/environmental/early puberty piece is very intriguing to me. And putting these two works together, points to my belief that two of the things we really need to focus on right now in helping our children are:
1. Nutrition
2. Our relationship to the screen
Labels: environmental toxins., gender differences, Leonard Sax, video game use
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10:19 AM
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