Recent studies are revealing that some young boys are being discriminated against in schools and being graded unfairly because of how their “active nature” is perceived by teachers.
It is no secret that some boys tend to be very hyperactive at a young age. While most girls are happy doing whatever task is handed to them, boys often can’t focus unless they can first run around a bit and let out all that built-up energy.
While their “active nature” is perfectly innocent, researchers believe teachers are discriminating against them.
The problem appears to be that teachers are interpreting being active as being “bad” and punishing young boys for not cooperating or behaving well in the classroom.
If you’re thinking this only means the boy gets less candy or recess time, you’re wrong. Teachers who perceive the active behavior as being bad are also grading the young boys more harshly.
Boys who tended to be very rambunctious in class received lower overall grades, even after they had the same or higher test scores as girls. In other words, your little boy may be getting graded more harshly overall, simply because he couldn’t be quite as still as little Mary, despite the fact that he retained the same amount of information as she did.
Now before you assume that every boy is getting his grade marked down, research is also revealing that boys are being given way too many “brownie points” if they can sit still.
Some young men shared the same enthusiasm to sit still and please the teacher as their female counterparts in class. Once again, both the boys and girls earned the same score on the test but their grades in the class didn’t match up.
Are teachers praising little boys too much when they match a girl’s behavior in class? Experts think so.
Time reported that researchers believe “teachers may be overcompensating when they encounter boys whose behavior exceeds expectations.” What makes this even more problematic is that the expectations for boys are often already set way too low.
In other words, a young boy can perform the way an average student should in class but be rewarded as if he has done something extraordinary and excelled beyond the rest of his classmates.
Back to the other side of that same coin is the fact that a young boy can also perform better than everyone else in his class on a test, but if he is an active young man he will receive lower grades in class.
So what needs to be done to correct the discrimination issue?
Read more: Popular Critic
