<p>Here's a new study. I can't wait to see the posts on this one.
<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/ap_on_re_us/boys_girls;_ylt=AleMllnov3kMrSeekf_9DNes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-%5B/url%5D">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/ap_on_re_us/boys_girls;_ylt=AleMllnov3kMrSeekf_9DNes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-</a></p>
<p>Interesting.</p>
<p>Although at college, I try to take more classes with men rather than women, because I feel like I do better in classes with men than I do with women (I'm a woman though). I'm not sure why, but I find it to be true most of the time. </p>
<p>But I did have a crazy sexist proff last semester that graded me down probably because he thought women couldn't do as well as men. He was a guy, yeah.</p>
<p>Interesting but not surprising. So does that mean that boys have a disadvantage in elementary school because the majority of teachers for those grades are female?</p>
<p>Meh. Too inconclusive to really say much.</p>
<p>"Should teachers get more training about the learning styles of boys and girls? Should they be taught to combat biases in what they expect of boys and girls? "
This is the part that really caught my eye, because as the parent of a boy[ now college freshman] I really saw a contrast in how some female teachers evaluated my son's behavior, vrs how male teachers did a year later.</p>
<p>My observation is that both boys and girls respond really well -- and maybe even BETTER -- to male teachers. I believe first and foremost, that's because men are exotic and different for kids who up to that point have had nearly 100% female authority figures in their little lives. </p>
<p>Yes, I think more male teachers in elementary schools would be a huge benefit to children of both sexes. And to the profession itself.</p>
<p>This should stir up some more posts. </p>
<p>By around HS, both of my Ds have preferred male teachers. They said the female ones tend to be more moody and mean and have less control of the class. The female HS teachers seemed to show preferences for the male students and didn't like the female students (i.e. preferential treatment). My Ds also said female HS teachers have tended to be less competent. </p>
<p>My D in college has a theory that many of the female students end up becoming teachers because they don't know what else to do (hence being less competent) whereas many of the male students do because they really wanted to teach. This is more true with the HS level teachers as opposed to the lower grades.</p>
<p>These are generalizations - my Ds also had some excellent female teachers they liked and some female students who were passionate about wanting to become teachers.</p>
<p>Interesting. My Ss both had favorite teachers,in high school, one of each sex. </p>
<p>Generally speaking, it would be a good idea for more men to be teaching at the elementary level. When I served on hiring committees, we tried hard to identify qualified male applicants and had modest success.</p>
<p>So how bout this- most of my sons' upper level science teachers were men. My sons love science the most and do better in science than language (where most of their teachers were women). Does this mean that my boys learn better from men than women?</p>
<p>My S's AP-Chem teacher was a woman. He did very well in her class. His Intro Bio prof was male; he did not do quite as well in that class. But then, he did not care for bio as much as for chem. So I draw no conclusion as to the effect of gender on his learning.</p>
<p>Funny thing is, in this country teachers have always been predominately female, and it never stopped boys from learning before. Do you think that all the negativity today about women being in positions of authority is affecting male students' attitudes? All the hatred being directed in the media and some segments of our society against women in politics and business can't be helping.</p>
<p>The very worst teacher D ever had was a man. The very best teacher D ever had was a man. The most effective teacher D ever had (meaning got the best performance out of D in a subject that was always her worst) was a woman. </p>
<p>The effectiveness of men vs. women in teaching seems so subjective. Which doesn't change my thought that education and our children would benefit greatly if more men went into teaching, particularly in elementary-middle school. </p>
<p>UCSD_dad -- I'm afraid your daughter's theory -- "many of the female students end up becoming teachers because they don't know what else to do" -- is all too true in practice. I've seen the same in male students - the impulse to teach, just to "do" something - but not nearly as often.</p>
<p>Speaking only from personal experience (and not attempting to make generalizations) male teachers in my high school seem much more likely to</p>
<p>A) have control over the class
B) give students more personal responsibility</p>
<p>In a male-taught class the teacher was much more likely to make homework and note taking optional. They taught the material, and what you did after that was your business. In a female-taught class the teacher was much more likely to assign lots and lots of mandatory busy work to raise the grades of kids in their classes. </p>
<p>Some people need to be forced to take notes, but shouldn't students taking college-level AP courses learn to be above this level of immaturity? I personally did not need to take notes often and when my teachers (all of the ones who did this were female) forced me to take notes for a grade, I was not happy.</p>
<p>"His study comes as the proportion of male teachers is at its lowest level in 40 years. Roughly 80 percent of teachers in U.S. public schools are women."</p>
<p>I think this has more to do with the way boys learn, [ more visual, less auditory, etc, etc.] and how efforts in the last 3 decades , partly due to women's liberation[ and don't misunderstand me- I am a screaming feminist, but also the mother of a son] to "level the playing field" for girls, have resulted in tipping the balance against boys in the average classroom. For evey action there is an opposite and equal reaction? Behavior from boys that was tolerated decades ago is less tolerated today, and I believe that there is less understanding and tolerance today of typical, harmless "boys will be boys" classroom behavior from many younger female teachers, especially if they have not had sons of their own, or have not been educated about the basic, real differences in how and why the sexes learn differently. I think there is more tolerance of "typical boy behavior" from male teachers than from female teachers and vice versa.<br>
And as there are fewer male teachers nowadays, but just as many male students, it does have an effect. Just my 2 cents..</p>
<p>Hands down, the worst teacher either of my kids had in elementary school was a man, a discontented, tired man who would have been better off working as a security guard rather than teaching 10 year olds. Unfortuantely for us, he is tenured, so other children will have to put up with this depressed drill sargent.</p>
<p>I've seen bad teachers and good, from both genders. I just can't generalize though, and say all males are like this one. </p>
<p>I will surely agree that less "boys will be boys" behavior is permitted in class, no matter who is teaching.</p>
<p>My son has had least favorite teachers of each gender, as has my D. I think it depends more on the personality of the student & teacher, as well as the dynamics that occur between the two & the class. Both have also had excellent teachers whom they learned a great deal from of each gender.
One of the things we do like a great deal about our kids' private HS is that there are excellent teachers of both genders in all subjects & my kids seem to enjoy having good teachers of whatever gender. The important thing seems to be having teachers who are passionate who are able to share the enthusiasm & nurture learning; those are the teachers I always learned most from & those my kids learned most from as well. My D says she thinks the study & conclusions are "dumb." I agree.</p>
<p>Certain kids will do a lot better with a teacher of one gender over another. There will be exception for those kids; ie a teacher of the unfavorable gender can be absolutely fantastic whereas the opposite for the one of the favorable gender. So the statement is a generality even for those kids who do have a propensity for one gender or the other. It isn't surprising to me that boys in general would do better with male teacher. </p>
<p>On an individual basis, the generality will not matter, I have a son who does so much better with female teachers. He seems to always be butting heads with the males.</p>
<p>D. had an Algebra II teacher who made the "pretty girls" sit in the back so they didn't "distract the boys." The girls he singled out as "overweight" or otherwise "serious-looking" could still sit in the front, since "they won't distract anybody." </p>
<p>During one girl's in-class presentation (that they all had to do for a grade), he sang "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard" the whole time she was talking. (I'm still not sure what that means, but it can't be good). </p>
<p>The school tried to tone him down after the girls started transferring out, and he didn't come back the next year, but for a whole year the girls who stayed in his class had to compete for grades against the boys in this kind of hostile atmosphere.</p>
<p>^ Wow, that's horrible. I can't believe a teacher would do that!</p>
<p>Yeah, it was pretty bad. To give a little background, he was European (Checkoslovakian), it was his first year in the country. He was a brilliant mathematician, but had never taught before or had any education courses. </p>
<p>D. didn't actually start complaining about him until he refused to give one of her friends (male) his IEP accomodations for his dyslexia, telling him that if he had that kind of problem he didn't belong in gifted. (This was also--until the head of the gifted program got ahold of him--a stock retort of his anytime a girl asked a question about the material, "If you don't already know this, you probably don't belong in my class"). </p>
<p>There is a horrible teacher shortage in mathematics in Louisiana (and for whatever the reason, a reluctance on the part of many teachers to teach gifted students), so the school had to take what it could get. Luckily, the next year the middle school teacher (who was wonderful) moved over, but by then D. had moved on to the state magnet.</p>