The new disadvantaged: white male students

[Ethel]

Athrabeth, I want to thank you as well for several very thoughtful and thought-provoking posts. I am sure you are a wonderful teacher, and in my book there is no higher calling.

Do you know one of the reasons I never worried much about my son playing video games? It was because from the age of about 12, he regularly wrote reviews of the games. These were published on many (amateur) websites. But the thing was - I read them, and they were pretty good reviews. Lots of spelling errors, but a genuine authorial voice and an appealing humor. I reckoned as long as he was writing about the games in a coherent and entertaining way, I really didn't need to worry. (He's now majoring in creative writing.)

There were a couple of times he got bad grades (I'm talking 'C's' here) and I took away his computer access and games for an entire grading period - on the theory that that's where his energy was going instead of into schoolwork. He bore it gracefully, and none of the slumps lasted long.

[Jnyusa]

Not even 500 books in an entire school????? Jny, please give your daughter a big <insert hug> of support from me.

I'm exaggerating but not by much. The school my daughters attended had less than 1000 books in their library; and the school where my daughter teaches is in much worse shape financially.

Both she and her husband started out their teaching careers at an urban charter school, for which hubby received a discount on his government loans for his Master's Degree. But both left there as soon as they could and moved to another school system, which is still part of the Philadelphia district but not in the center city. At the first school, they spent a big part of the time dealing with violence (hubby at the HS) and the effects of violence (daughter at the 3rd grade) among their students. That was the main reason they wanted to leave. But it's only marginally better where they are now.

And the HS they attended is supposed to be all upper-middle-class great with this high percentage of college bound students and all ... (the teachers were abyssmal) ... but more importantly, violence was a factor there as well. We were associated with the school for six years from the start of eldest daughter to the graduation of youngest daughter, and in the last three years there were multiple bomb threats every year. There was always a police officer assigned to the school, and at dismissal there would be cop cars all over the place.

Just the night before last one of my daughter's friends from HS was stabbed to death - the second of her friends to die this way. Another friend came home from HS one day to find both her parents shot to death. And not in the same grade with my daughters but in between and known to both of them, two other friends killed in a high-speed car chase with the police.

I swear ... I can't think of a single friend of mine from grade school forward who died a violent death ... and an unusually large percentage of them went into career military and had high-risk jobs, so you'd think the odds would be higher. None of my friends were even killed in Vietnam, though I know quite a few disabled vets.

Philly has a really serious crime problem, one of the worst in the nation, and not only the police and courts are clogged to the point of inefficacy, but teachers are dealing with the residual effects of this all the time. When my daughter worked in the center city, every week she had a story of another student who was a victim of violent crime. Now this is her second year at this other school, and both years she's had a student whose family member was murdered.

It's simply appalling.

Anyway, all of this is just to say that the library is not what occupies the teachers' attention most of the time.

Jn

[sauronsfinger]

Jnyusa
Your story about your childrens school, its safety issues and the condition of the library is probably typical of many big city high schools.

My own experience was teaching at a Detroit high school for 23 years (10 previous years in a middle school). There were two full time Detroit police officers assigned to the school. In addition there were three school security officers to support and assist them. The police were armed, the security officers were not.

These people were needed as we had our usual share of gang and fights and drug issues. Usually, about once a year, there was someone who would fire a gun within the building or on school grounds. Kids were injured in fights, some rather seriously.

Our library was a large and well furnished one. I have no idea how many books we had but we exceeded North Central numbers. The problem was that it was this huge library which hardly anyone used. For over twenty years, we had these two librarians who made it their mission to discourage student use. These were two older white people, who saw themselves in the tradition of the Eurpoean intellectual, who each day brought coffee cakes and brewed tea and coffee for staff members who used the back rooms of the library as a salon for discussion. Teachers would come there on their prep or lunch periods. I should say, some white teachers would go there.

On my first day there, my department head took me aside, told me the situation and I avoided it.

How did they get away with this? How were they able to subvert the educational needs of an entire school?

The principal went along with it as part of a deal with the two. On days where we had no substitute service, classes would be sent to the library as a holding mechanism. On some days, usually a Friday, there may be four or five classes of over 120 students in there all jammed together. That was the only time the two librarians actually worked.

This was a violation of the contract and two years after I got there I became the Union representative for the staff. I went to the librarians and said I was going to protect them for this "abusive situation" and they told me to mind my own business. They had made a deal with the devil and enjoyed being able to toast the marshmallows.

The students suffered but nobody in a position to do anything about it wanted it to change.

They both eventually retired or died, the principal was fired for stealing funds and the situation improved.

[vison]

What a terrible story. There isn't much one can say, except it's good that things improved. I hope they stay improved. Books are no good if no one is allowed or encouraged to read them.

Athrabeth, thanks again for that interesting post. Have you heard of the new research about teenage brains? I heard a fascinating interview on CBC radio last year with a neurologist who has studied teens. He says that his research shows that teen brains change - physical change - as greatly as the brains of children from birth to about 2 years of age. The changes appear to be triggered by the great hormone bursts that take place in adolescents. This is why, according to him, teens are foggy, clueless, inattentive, moody, etc. I wish I could recall his name. Might even have been one of the guys you mentioned.

My little guys are very lucky to be attending a small school. There are barely 100 kids from kindergarten to grade 7. The principal is a phys-ed specialist and they have plenty of activity everday. The classes are small and the teachers are wonderful. Our school library is terrific, it is a special place, being named for a pioneer teacher here, who died recently at the age of 99! There are problems, of course, it's not perfect.

Other schools in this area have "resident" police officers, which sickens me. There are ethnic tensions in the big high schools. Gangs and drugs are everywhere, there is no escaping them even in our rural backwater.

But as for "the new disadvantaged: white male students", I just don't buy it. I see nothing that supports the argument, at least in our school.

There is undoubtedly a need for new teaching methods, new means of getting information to kids raised with TV and video games. But at some point, somewhere along the line, kids have got to learn to be good citizens of the school and the larger world. Somewhere they have to learn good manners, the ability to sit still for five minutes, consideration of others. Kids seem to have this notion that they can make the most personal, unkind remarks about other people! Where did this come from? I think they model that particular behavior on some of their favourite TV shows and while we all laugh at the shows, I think we should also stop and think that maybe we should say, "Well, that's fine for Bart, I guess, but not for you."

[Jnyusa]

sf: They both eventually retired or died, the principal was fired for stealing funds and the situation improved.

Sometimes this is the best you can hope for.

vison: "Well, that's fine for Bart, I guess, but not for you."

It doesn't help, does it, that Bart is so much smarter than Homer.

Jn

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

When you think what a proper librarian can do!

[anthriel]

Gosh, so much to talk about in this interesting thread!

TP, your original post (and the link you provided) made me want to smile--or cry-- the whole time. Oy.

Sounds to me like a bad case of junior not meeting Big Important Daddy's report card standards (how embarrassing for dad!) and, so, therefore, there MUST be someone (else) at fault. Surely society itself is skewed? I mean, look at my boy's grades! How can this happen! This is MY boy you are talking about here! There must be retroactive adjustments! There must be heads rolling! No boy of mine can make such grades (wasn't the GPA something like a "C" average?)! Darned teachers... darned society... gonna be sorry they messed with THIS daddy!

Oy.

The only thing I read in that article (and, I'll admit, that was several days ago) that caught my eye as unfair was the notion that if a boy were walking outside a classroom during classtime, he would be stopped and questioned, whereas if a girl were, she was not.

All students should be stopped and questioned, to my mind. Wandering the hallways is probably not a useful activity, during classtime. Get your (gender neutral) butt back to class, folks.

Probably not as "gentle" a response as Big Daddy would have hoped for. But that's life, Big Daddy. Get one.

Athrabeth brings up such wonderful points ( ) about adjusting to the realities of the differences in children's lives from then 'til now. We all carry little suitcases wherever we go, packed with our potential, our weaknesses, our secret thoughts, our secret fears, and all of the life experiences we have garnered along the way. We have to acknowledge that not everyone has the same skillset in their suitcase, nor do they have the background experiences that we had in our suitcases so many years ago.

Doesn't mean the suitcase is empty, though.

One of the first books my boy ever read on his own (and you all know the wrenching experience my poor son had with reading... he still hates to do it ) was a joke book about... errr... farts.

I'll never forget watching him with his nose buried in that book, glasses slid to the end of his nose, a little furrow in his forehead as he puzzled out the words and meaning (and this was, of course, just last year); and then, suddenly, he would throw his head back in a huge bellylaugh. He would trot over to me and cue me in on some ridiculous, embarrassing fart joke, and then go back and puzzle out the next one.

I loved every minute of it.

'Course, my mother-in-law took me aside and confided that she was uncomfortable with "what you are exposing my grandson to". "Exposing him"? As if he would never have known of flatulence if he had not read this book? He's a 10 year-old boy, for goodness' sake. He knows.

Of course, I tried to be kind, and told her, "I'm sorry you feel that way". And then changed the subject.

He was reading, and enjoying it, and that was ALL I cared about. If it were some sort of how-to on Satanic rituals, I suppose I would steer him elsewhere.

But a dumb fart joke doesn't really faze me. He's reading!

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

Any run of the mill good mother worth her salt will be patient with her child and his difficulties. It takes a saint with superhuman powers to be that patient with her irritating MIL at the same time.

to Anthy

[anthriel]

Tosh:



Actually, I was thinking about her, and how she is... sort of embarrassed, I guess.. by the pure earthiness of boys. At one memorable family gathering, my then three year-old son unexpectedly "burped" out the tune to "Happy Birthday" at his cousin's birthday party. To grandma's GREAT chagrin. 'Course, I wasn't too thrilled with it, either, but it was kind of funny, to my warped mind. Darned kid.

She STILL brings that up. Seven years later, I still get the occasional "constructive criticism" that I let my boy veer a bit too much off the beaten path. ("Remember the time when he... ruined the happy birthday song? ON VIDEO?") To my mind, the path that she's looking at was beaten by girls' feet. Boys are different.

I took my boy out last night to see our colt, and he messed with the horse for a while, and then found another little boy and a dirt pile. They spent the next 30 minutes thwacking each other with sticks and running up and down that pile of dirt.

Women don't really GET this, I don't think. I certainly stood there and shook my head, wondering idly how his life would be if he only had one eye, but I let him do his boy stuff. Boys DO do different stuff than girls do. They have different intensity levels. They like pretending to blow stuff up.. heck, they like to blow stuff up, given the chance.

I am NOT saying that they cannot sit in class and learn their lessons. I am NOT saying that they should be given some sort of "free pass" in society, where the basic rules of politeness do not apply to them. I make my son and my daughter write thank you notes when they receive gifts. My daughter is fine with it. My son hates it and whines the whole time. Tough. It may grate on his "Y" chromosome, but he will learn nice manners, and to express his appreciation.

I expect him to go to school and buckle down and learn. I also expect there to be recess. And I imagine a few of those fart jokes are shared with his buddies, out there on the swingset.

[Frelga]

He was reading, and enjoying it, and that was ALL I cared about. If it were some sort of how-to on Satanic rituals, I suppose I would steer him elsewhere.

But a dumb fart joke doesn't really faze me. He's reading!

Hooray for your boy, Anthy! I remember the story about the evil eyeglass place and it's so thrilling to hear that he overcame that obstacle. Even if he is using his new skill to read about farts.

Oh yeah, I can relate.

Got a beautiful book at the local bookstore - Poetry Speaks to Children. About 70 poems, by various authors, and a CD with most of those poems read by authors or actors. And get this, it had "There was an inn, a merry old inn" read by Tolkien. I coveted it.

I knew though that if I bought it for DS, he wouldn't touch it. We are in rebellious stage right now, which I expect won't last much longer than 25 years. So I bought it as a "birthday present" for his friend. And - oh, look, here's a poem about farting! He loved it. Really loved it! Could he have one for himself? Well, OK, I suppose I could buy something else for a gift... Devious? Moi? Why, yes. Thank you.
[/highjack]

[vison]

I hate to tell you this, Anthriel, but your son will never outgrow his love for fart jokes. They don't, that's all.

My eight-year-old Oz is the Fart King, I tell you. The very word reduces him to helpless laughter. His proficiency at farting amazes even his older brother. Oz loves reading "Grossology", the book with the fake vomit glued on front? It gives me the creeps just to pick it up!

I just KNOW that this weekend they are going to try the "match trick" and see if you really get blue flames. We've warned them, but you can't follow them around all day. . . .

I don't really care much what the kids read as long as they're reading. Tay loved each and every Lemony Snicket book, but spurns nearly everything else. I'm going to try books about car racing, next, since although he loves to play hockey and soccer, he doesn't really want to read about them. I waved "Swiss Family Robinson" in front of him and he blenched. Dale Earnhart's life story might appeal more.

[JewelSong]

Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay which is known as "Fart Proudly."

Here it is:

The Royal Academy of Brussels solicited questions for scientific study that would have useful applications. Benjamin Franklin suggested this "serious enquiry" for "this enlightened age". Franklin had qualms about submitting this, however, and instead printed it privately on his press at Passy, France, where he was an ambassador. He also sent it to a number of his friends, including Joseph Priestly, the renown chemist and gas specialist, "who is apt to give himself airs". This notorious essay is known today simply as "Fart Proudly."


GENTLEMEN,

I have perused your late mathematical Prize Question, proposed in lieu of one in Natural Philosophy, for the ensuing year, viz. "Une figure quelconque donnee, on demande d’y inscrire le plus grand nombre de fois possible une autre figure plus-petite quelconque, qui est aussi donnee". I was glad to find by these following Words, "l’Acadeemie a jugee que cette deecouverte, en eetendant les bornes de nos connoissances, ne seroit pas sans UTILITE", that you esteem Utility an essential Point in your Enquiries, which has not always been the case with all Academies; and I conclude therefore that you have given this Question instead of a philosophical, or as the Learned express it, a physical one, because you could not at the time think of a physical one that promised greater Utility.

Permit me then humbly to propose one of that sort for your consideration, and through you, if you approve it, for the serious Enquiry of learned Physicians, Chemists, &c. of this enlightened Age. It is universally well known, That in digesting our common Food, there is created or produced in the Bowels of human Creatures, a great Quantity of Wind.

That the permitting this Air to escape and mix with the Atmosphere, is usually offensive to the Company, from the fetid Smell that accompanies it.

That all well-bred People therefore, to avoid giving such Offence, forcibly restrain the Efforts of Nature to discharge that Wind.

That so retained contrary to Nature, it not only gives frequently great present Pain, but occasions future Diseases, such as habitual Cholics, Ruptures, Tympanies, &c. often destructive of the Constitution, & sometimes of Life itself.

Were it not for the odiously offensive Smell accompanying such Escapes, polite People would probably be under no more Restraint in discharging such Wind in Company, than they are in spitting, or in blowing their Noses.

My Prize Question therefore should be, To discover some Drug wholesome & not disagreeable, to be mixed with our common Food, or Sauces, that shall render the natural Discharges of Wind from our Bodies, not only inoffensive, but agreeable as Perfumes.

That this is not a chimerical Project, and altogether impossible, may appear from these Considerations. That we already have some Knowledge of Means capable of Varying that Smell. He that dines on stale Flesh, especially with much Addition of Onions, shall be able to afford a Stink that no Company can tolerate; while he that has lived for some Time on Vegetables only, shall have that Breath so pure as to be insensible to the most delicate Noses; and if he can manage so as to avoid the Report, he may any where give Vent to his Griefs, unnoticed. But as there are many to whom an entire Vegetable Diet would be inconvenient, and as a little Quick-Lime thrown into a Jakes will correct the amazing Quantity of fetid Air arising from the vast Mass of putrid Matter contained in such Places, and render it rather pleasing to the Smell, who knows but that a little Powder of Lime (or some other thing equivalent) taken in our Food, or perhaps a Glass of Limewater drank at Dinner, may have the same Effect on the Air produced in and issuing from our Bowels? This is worth the Experiment. Certain it is also that we have the Power of changing by slight Means the Smell of another Discharge, that of our Water. A few Stems of Asparagus eaten, shall give our Urine a disagreeable Odor; and a Pill of Turpentine no bigger than a Pea, shall bestow on it the pleasing Smell of Violets. And why should it be thought more impossible in Nature, to find Means of making a Perfume of our Wind than of our Water?

For the Encouragement of this Enquiry, (from the immortal Honor to be reasonably expected by the Inventor) let it be considered of how small Importance to Mankind, or to how small a Part of Mankind have been useful those Discoveries in Science that have heretofore made Philosophers famous. Are there twenty Men in Europe at this Day, the happier, or even the easier, for any Knowledge they have picked out of Aristotle? What Comfort can the Vortices of Descartes give to a Man who has Whirlwinds in his Bowels! The Knowledge of Newton’s mutual Attraction of the Particles of Matter, can it afford Ease to him who is racked by their mutual Repulsion, and the cruel Distensions it occasions? The Pleasure arising to a few Philosophers, from seeing, a few Times in their Life, the Threads of Light untwisted, and separated by the Newtonian Prism into seven Colors, can it be compared with the Ease and Comfort every Man living might feel seven times a Day, by discharging freely the Wind from his Bowels? Especially if it be converted into a Perfume: For the Pleasures of one Sense being little inferior to those of another, instead of pleasing the Sight he might delight the Smell of those about him, & make Numbers happy, which to a benevolent Mind must afford infinite Satisfaction. The generous Soul, who now endeavors to find out whether the Friends he entertains like best Claret or Burgundy, Champagne or Madeira, would then enquire also whether they chose Musk or Lilly, Rose or Bergamot, and provide accordingly. And surely such a Liberty of Expressing one’s Scent-iments, and pleasing one another, is of infinitely more Importance to human Happiness than that Liberty of the Press, or of abusing one another, which the English are so ready to fight & die for. -- In short, this Invention, if completed, would be, as Bacon expresses it, bringing Philosophy home to Mens Business and Bosoms. And I cannot but conclude, that in Comparison therewith, for universal and continual UTILITY, the Science of the Philosophers above-mentioned, even with the Addition, Gentlemen, of your "Figure quelconque" and the Figures inscribed in it, are, all together, scarcely worth a FART-HING.

This essay, along with other's by Franklin that never saw the inside of a history book, have been compiled here:

Maybe boys would do better in school if we changed some of the required reading material.

[vison]

[Impenitent]

Jewel, that essay is...a jewel!