09.13.06
Where I’m coming from
It wasn’t that long ago that I believed that every one of us was created equal, male and female, the only differences perhaps being our unique talents. I believed, as is politically correct (among all groups, be they left or right, and especially in education) that childrearing and educational influences account for the differences in behavior between males and females of all ages, and that were we to treat them the same, they would behave the same. I also believed that children are naturally curious, and presented with the opportunity, will explore and research topics at great lengths.
Pretty obviously I don’t believe that now. Observations in schools where I have worked simply do not support this. I find that when given the opportunity to learn, increasingly girls are inspired by their future career options and choose to work harder, while more and more boys are deciding to live for the moment and skip today’s homework, even if it means being unable to earn a good living in the not-too-distant future. I find the structure we have in schools nowadays caters to the innate talents and tendencies of femaleness, while ignoring the innate male tendency to slack off and fuck up. Does this mean I support those proponents of all-male academies that cater to the inner child of young males? Not on your life. What those boys need is a lot of structure and discipline, and fewer choices. Specifically we need to stop offering boys the opportunity to choose to fail, to not participate in their own education.
I think that students should be segregated by motivational level. It is true that more boys would end up in the highly structured classes than girls, but this isn’t gender-based discrimination. Even though being discriminating as far as academic achievement is concerned means that the students who need extra structure would be primarily boys, life is full of decisions and choices. I would prefer to assure that all students acquire the ability to learn when needed, and this is something not currently being taught. All boys and girls in the structured program would be shifted between programs as they showed they were able to handle freedom and use it as a learning tool. If a boy told me that he thought there should be a quota to make sure there are equal numbers of males and females in that top motivational group, I would just tell him that he earned his way into the slackers group and could earn his way out again.
It’s hard for people to break out of that mental box to recognize where facts end and cultural myths take over. I was very much influenced by Steven Pinker, who wrote that male and female sex-linked behaviors are universal, and thus unrelated to childrearing traditions in any one culture. Later he demonstrated that many aspects of behavior we attribute to (blame on) family influence are very probably entirely heritable. In other words, if you’re a dumbass, and your father is a dumbass, more than likely you got it from him. Or if you have zero curiousity about the world around you, and your parents do not either, then you are not a good candidate for homeschooling. In that case, though, your parents won’t want to do it anyway, and you’ll probably end up in public schools like all those other dumbasses who are willing to work much harder to avoid learning than it would be to allow education to happen.
So you see where I’m coming from now, or maybe you just have a glimpse.
Last but not least, having finished my site overhaul, I have started two new blogs in an effort to streamline them thematically. This blog will continue as my femdom blog, Ask the Principal will do Q&A service. and my phone sex blog will cover subjects having to do with, well, sex.
From the Office of the Principal » Blog Archive » Sugasm #47 said,
September 19, 2006 at 9:57 am
[...] From the Office of the Principal News, education, female superiority, and just about anything else « Where I’m coming from [...]
Richard said,
October 18, 2006 at 1:15 pm
While I don’t believe in gender inequality this reminded me of high school.
Some of my classes had their membership determined by “ability.” I think it was based more on something we knew only as the California tests but might have been the prior year’s grades.
In those there were always more girls than boys. One English class I recall was mostly female - mostly Jewish girls. I never drew a conclusion but did wonder somewhat.
Principal Quattrano at work » Blog Archive » The more you think about it, the more it makes you think said,
October 22, 2006 at 7:43 pm
[...] Richard Says: October 18th, 2006 at 1:15 pm eWhile I don’t believe in gender inequality this reminded me of high school.Some of my classes had their membership determined by “ability.” I think it was based more on something we knew only as the California tests but might have been the prior year’s grades.In those there were always more girls than boys. One English class I recall was mostly female - mostly Jewish girls. I never drew a conclusion but did wonder somewhat. [...]
Luke Kehoe said,
December 27, 2006 at 9:01 am
I would like to enroll in your school, see my discussion with you earlier but am not sure if you take online pupils although i am aware you might look into this possibility as you have indicated to me you would