Order, Learning and Boys

Every once in a while, I hear or read someone commenting on how our schools want the boys to behave like girls. The reason being that girls usually are much quieter and cooperative in a classroom, which facilitates their learning. Boys are not naturally so. Of course, there are many schools that don't seek any order at all - but that's another issue.

Now, I'm all for recognising the differences in the sexes. I'm a big fan of separate schools for boys and girls. I certainly am not interested in feminizing boys for the sake of keeping things tidy at school. However, order is necessary for learning. However routy a boy may naturally be, if there is not some self-control on his part, and structure and discipline on his teacher's part, he will not learn what he needs to learn.

How about this solution: instead of saying, "Johnny, you should behave like Susie over there," we should say, "Johnny, a good soldier knows how to stand at attention and speak when he's spoken to. He knows how to discipline his actions and obey orders. He knows how to pay attention to his commander to be sure that he plays his part in the battle."

In other words, provide a model of order which is masculine, instead of feminine. We must do something like this, because some order is going to have to exist. The alternative to a feminine order in the classroom is not to allow Johnny to act like the Tazmanian devil whenever he feels like it. He can do better than that, if he is inspired by the right model. Boys can behave when they want to!