HOW BOYS AND GIRLS ACT DIFFERENTLY

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HOW BOYS AND GIRLS ACT DIFFERENTLY
There is a problem with the widespread opinion that all children are the same and should be treated similarly, be they boys or girls. And one of the places where one would find this notion most promoted is in the school system, beginning right from the Kindergarten. Teachers say that their reason of treating all the children the same is done in the effort of promoting gender equity. While this may be a well meaning notion, the opinion is somewhat misplaced. To begin with, children are diverse in terms of background, ability and interests and this means that they have different learning issues. And to treat both boys and girls the same would mean that some of these children will be better placed in the learning process than others ( Skelton 425-438).
It is obvious that boys are better placed for some mild manual activities that girls would feel bothered by, and to give them the same means emotional and physical burdens that are detrimental to the learning process. Teachers of children may also have certain gender biases, and even though at times unconscious, they may willfully be ignoring the one they have towards themselves, their schools, and inevitably their students. The risk is that the gender biases could seep into the classrooms and extend what has been picked up from cultural norms ( Brody 231).
There is a question of different preferences for both boys and girls when it comes to play toys. In the event that a girls parent buys toys that are labeled gender neutral, such as baby dolls, tractors and trains, the girl may always reach out for the dressed-up dollies whereas a boy may go after the trains. This shows the difference that is inherent between boys and girls, despite how young they are. And this difference is as a result of the hormones that the child was exposed to while still in the uterus ( Skelton 425-438).
This could also be demonstrated by the fact that boys will show more disinterest in people and their faces as opposed to girls and consequently girls play with dolls which have faces while boys will tend more towards the trucks and trains. Girls are equally more bubbly than boys, in the sense that they talk more than boys hence their preference for Cinderella pretend plays and even games that are make-believe. The other most noticeable difference is that while boys prefer to be a part of a group girls will be more intimately attached in a one-on-one with other kids.
Reynold explains that boys are naturally muscular, meaning they are born this way, and for this reason they become more active in things that require physical action that girls do. Anything that take s advantage of the boys' mechanical as well as spatial skills make the boys more engaged, and become better at them. And this may include operation of switches in the event of an activity board or even playing with some kinds of blocks ( Brody 231).
It is however important to understand that both boys and girls are not to be victims of gender stereotypes right from their births. It is recommendable that a parent need to fill his or her child's baby toy holder with both opposite-gender and non-gender-specific playthings. A boy can learn to be more caring by being shown the example of caring men around him, like a father, and even provided with some opposite-gender playthings so that he may be able to care for them like prized possessions.
Its common place for people to want to make assumptions about others, especially in regards to behavior, their abilities and or preferences and the people who do this more or less base their judgments on gender. The school system is bedeviled by the same, and right from early education the child is exposed to the societies stereotypes regarding gender's masculinity or femininity. The children who seem not to match up to expectations are at the risk of having problems with teachers as well as their fellow peers.
The modern society is so structured that boys are expected to be boisterous and also exhibit some form of unruly behavior. They are also expected to be academically above per, socially uncommunicative whilst at the same time rational. As for the girls, a polite, quite, at times studious kind is the social norm. This same assumption has pitted that girls shall possess admirable social skills as compared to boys and that their reading shall be excellent and their performance in the arts and language much better ( Brody 231). So should there be a boy who is quiet and studious and a girl who is undisciplined or at constant loggerheads with teachers, then they offset the social expectations and become a problem to those around them. These different behaviors between boys and girls mean that they more or less integrate into the school system, and form the basis of how boys and girls behave and consequently how their teachers accept or don't accept that kind of behavior from either of the gender in regard to activities that may be perfectly uniform.
This same issue arises even in consideration to other forms of social categories, making gender bias a trait that can be defined or associated with race, class, ethnicity as well as language or even religion. Black girls, or African American children, are considered to be both uncontrollable and extremely loud and for this reason may not exhibit behaviors that are attributed to women that are white and of the upper class who are quiet, somewhat self-effacing as well as malleable.
Being a Kindergarten child does not necessarily remove them from the gender biases that may seep into their subject areas and or school activities. Some teachers may begin to cultivate a love for mathematics or sciences in boys because of the belief that they are better at it and not encourage the girls in these subjects. From this kind of background, the girls that grow to be very good at these subjects are merely because of their working hard, and society may not believe it is because of their intelligence whereas for boys doing too good in sciences, it attributed to their talent which is natural. When these biases are removed, and kindergarten children who play differently are encouraged not be confined among such social stereotypes, they may grow to become better placed in areas that are not even in custom attributed to them. From the very start, right in the kindergarten years, teachers are very important components who are supposed to challenge any form of gender bias in their learning institutions ( Skelton 425-438). The best that they may do would be for them to have pedagogical practices bettered curriculum choices as well as assessment strategies.
Given the tender age of kindergarten children, teachers have to go beyond their unconscious gender bias so that even in the childrens play and growth, there shall not be any stereo-type forms of expectations that the children obtain regarding their success as well as participation in both life and the classroom. Teachers tend to look at boys' domination of ...