This TED talk about how education may be failing our boys made me think a lot about Truman. I don’t know that I’m comfortable with gaming as a solution to the problems faced by boys in the classroom. I’m not against better games, but I’m not sure that they represent a practicable response to education as boys mature. I’m sure many people would also be made uncomfortable by the idea that boys need help at all.
Is it possible that inherent gender difference is something of a fantasy reinforced by societal norms from an incredible young age? That boys and girls absorb “lessons” through their pores before we even intend to “teach” them. And if so, should we seek to undo these differences, or cater to them?
Furthermore, is it a waste of time to think of how many boys are doing x versus how many girls are doing x? Are those sorts of questions inherently meaningless? I would like to think that there are two useful levels on which we should focus: the individual student, regardless of gender, and the school system as a whole. What is the use of learning that left-handed students do x, while right-handed students do y; or that blond students do b and brunettes do c?
In the meanwhile, I will strive to educate my child the best I can. To educate my son.
