Snips and Snails and Schoolroom Tails

Boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails, while girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, as the nursery rhyme goes. Although this saying is grossly politically incorrect by today’s standards, in my opinion it's not too far from the truth, especially when it comes to the classroom.

There’s no doubt about it—boys and girls learn differently. If boys are generally more kinesthetic, vocal and hands-on learners, then a classroom environment heavily influenced and assessed by the California State Standards can make it difficult for them to succeed.

When I found out that I was having my third boy, I accepted it as my calling to be well-versed in all things boy-related. Unfortunately, after reading everything from James Dobson’s extremely conservative Bringing up Boys to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raising Boys, I found out that boys are not faring too well in the academic  world.

Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education show that 9.8 percent of boys are high school dropouts, as compared to 7.7 percent of girls in 2007. It doesn’t get much better for boys as they get older. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, 93 percent of California prisoners are male.

Miranda Hitti of Web MD reports that boys are twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. In a study reported in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Association of Pediatricians, video games and TV have been found to negatively affect a child’s attention span, and boys seem to naturally gravitate to the former.

When it comes to the high-stakes game of the California Standards Test, where schools are expected to meet their targeted goals or face harsh consequences, attention span is a huge deal. Students must pay attention for longer periods of time than in the past, and if they choose to tune out, the material is usually not repeated because there is so much to cover.

Some schools like the Cunningham School for Excellence in Waterloo, IA, have taken a radical approach, offering boy-only classes. According to reports, the boys in the classroom don’t have to sit, but can stand, crouch or even leap around while the teacher walks to and fro reading from a book and giving lessons. 

In my classroom I do allow my fidgety boys to move a little more than the rest, because I know that they are not able to run and jump outside of class as much as they did when I was growing up. Free, unorganized outside play is a thing of the past in today’s world of supervised play dates. 

Yet there is a limit for everything, and a time and a place to be energetic. I’m sure the “Tiger Mothers” out there do not expect any less from their sons and think they are quite capable of sitting still during school hours.

When my preschooler starts doing laps around the dinner table, I rein him in and tell him that little boys need to sit to chew their food carefully and not choke. After all, his father and older brother are able to sit calmly at dinner time, and I don’t know too many grown men who have to jump around their office to get a little work done.

My preschooler also learns by touching and exploring his “snips and snails,” or his collection of feathers, rocks and rusty nails. I don’t want to fail him by not providing him with these experiences, which will be the perfect complement to the academic rigor he’ll face once he starts school.