Boys are marketed things like cars, guns, and motorcycles from a very early age. If the boy doesn't have a teacher that has any knowledge of these things, they just aren't that interested. I doubt that many female grade 6 teachers could tell a young boy the different between a V4, I4, and flat 4 engine. Or even fain an interested in discussing things like how a jet ski works vs. a regular propeller driven motor boat.

I think that the solution is that schools should have a specialist math/physics teacher starting in grade 6. Just like a regular classroom teacher can't really teach music, a regular classroom teacher can't really teach things like math/physics properly. These are specialty disciplines.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It doesn't even need to be the "manly man" stuff you listed. Many boys would enjoy catching and counting frogs or bugs for a school project. And a lot of them prefer a more hands on environment when learning. Instead of drawing chemical structures in science they may prefer building them with 3d modeling toys.

Also just having more opportunities to burn off some energy can help them stay focused. Even in college if i started getting too fidgety and losing focus a couple laps walking around the building would help me regain my focus.

Every child is different. There may be some girls who have similar interests or struggles just as there may be some boys who would prefer to spend recesses nose deep in a book instead of on the sports field.

[–] thisorthatorwhatever@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't think that there is much of a biological difference between girls not being fidgety and boys being fidgety. That line of argument tends to degenerate quickly into pseudo-science eugenics. I believe by grade 6, the heavy amount of gender marketing just means boys and girls have different interests.

I really don't think that many female grade 6 teachers have any knowledge or interest in guns/cars/planes/programming and can't even answer the most basic questions that a young male child might have.

I think that the solution is starting from grade 6, schools should have a specialized math/physics teacher. This would help both girls and boys. To teach physics properly you really need to be very well versed in it, that same with mathematics if not more. So many students fail to gain an interest in math because of a bad teacher, a teacher that was typically just winging it in math lessons.

Without shop classes schools have really suffered. They were a good way to get kids to learn to measure properly, and do applied mathematics. From that you had a natural way of teaching classical Greek geometry, then into sine tables.

[–] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I dont know.

Im interested in what yoy said earlier, how school isnt geared for boys.

I have a son in middle school, albeit, in special edu. I have watched these teachers bend backwards to "gear things to his interests". Everything from working his favorite book series "Wings of Fire" into math work, rewards for doing the boring stuff. My son has turned down all the books from the book list, and they let him chose his own and aproved it on the side because what he chose was higher than grade level. Art class.. they were to pick something simple to draw, and my son for some reason chose a sports car, then got upset it was hard. The art teacher did extra work to help "gear it to his interest" and it failed. That one was funny to me, I explained why he should have just chosen the baseball and rolled with it. But, my sons teachers, bend backwards to "gear to his interests" I dont know how else it could be done. Hes had both male and female teachers, like what else?

noting not all schools are the same, but I think its more than this, what exactly, I dont know, but. When I told my son he needed math to be a carpenter (what he, at the moment, wants to do when hes older) he started to pay better attention.

Math is math, science is science, I dont remember any school work being "geared to my interests" as a lady any morw than you know, picking your own book from the list. My son has had so much more choice than I ever had in school, I dont know what more could be done.

My guess, wild guess, would be boys are ignored by their parents more often than girls. When I was pregnant people were constantly telling me, "boys are easier (to raise)". They are not, I think a lot of parents let thier sons slip through the cracks and are neglected emotionally and socially.