Humanities Homework Help

Respond to the following discussion question. Each question response should be 100-150 words.

• Submit initial post by 11:59 p.m. Thursday, CT. 
• Respond to two or more classmates’ posts by 11:59 p.m., Sunday, CT.

This Unit’s Question

Class Debate—Does School Shortchange Girls or Boys?

Beginning with the AAUW report that contended that schools shortchange girls, this topic has been a topic for heated debate. During the early 1990s, the focus was girls’ disadvantages in the school environment, but that emphasis changed during the late 1990s. Now, boys’ problems in school receive more publicity than girls’ disadvantages. Thus, you should have no trouble finding opinions to bolster either position.

For this unit’s discussion, if you are a woman argue that schools shortchange boys and if you are a man argue that schools shortchange girls.

**I’m a female**

Response to the following posts

Post 1

Schools shortchange boys because they were so focused on integrating girls and focusing on making sure they were included and equal, that they lost track of the focus on boys entirely. Graduation rates are lower for boys compared to girls, and there are more girls on college campuses than boys. Boys behaviors get chalked up to behavioral issues and never truly fixed, and boys are having behavioral issues because the way schools are set up no longer support the way they learn and engage. Boys are more often to be found in special education programs due to behavioral issues, meaning they are not usually getting the same level of education as their peers. Boys are more likely to be harshly punished, which also takes a toll on their education and their opportunities.

Garibaldi, G., Makridis, C. A., Donald, H. M., & Hochman, N. (2019, June 18). How the Schools Shortchange Boys. City Journal. https://www.city-journal.org/html/how-schools-shortchange-boys-12949.html. 

Post 2

Our education system has failed to identify the specific needs that our boys have that are gender specific. This failure has kept our boys at a disadvantage compared to their female counterparts. One disadvantage for boys is their higher level of diagnoses that have a direct interference with their academic success. “Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls” (CDC, 2020) which has a significant impact on their ability to be attentive, organized, regulate, follow through, and an increased sense of inattentiveness. When children are inattentive and easily distracted, this leads to more disciplinary actions and less time in the classroom. They are being punished for a disability and losing additional time in the classroom for their educational needs. They also have the potential for trying medications to manage their ADHD symptoms which will cause mood swings and increased sleepiness while adding and deleting medications from their systems. Additional behaviors that are indictive of boys struggling in the classroom that could be misinterpreted by their teachers includes being distracted, appearing not to listen, fidgeting or walking around, and interrupting during class. These tend to be perceived as ways that they are not complying and taking away from others learning that would be responded with corrective actions instead of understanding and patience. This in turn affects their grades, behaviors, and ability to complete their high school diploma.

Data and Statistics About ADHD. (2020). Center for Disease Control. Retrieved June 22, 2021 from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html (Links to an external site.).