Hello! My name is Mr. Smith and I would like to welcome you to the study of United States History! This will be fun and exciting as well as challenging and time consuming. Historical analysis is done through a variety of lenses, most historians believe twenty years is a minimum time frame to allow "the dust to settle" and study an issue from a historical perspective. But as you will learn this year, we will look at current events as well as events from the past to try to make sense of them. To be successful in this course, as well as being a productive member of society, means that you need to actively participate in the world you are a part of. This blog will be an integral part of how we will be accomplishing this task.
I will you see soon,
Mr. Smith
20 comments:
Nice job with the blog, Mr. Smith! I hope you will provide the students of LRHS with the same quality education received at Foxcroft Academy.
hello Mr. Smith nice blog... and I actually figured out this blog thing
Hi Roger,
I am very impressed with your opening post.
Kathy Minigell
Mr. Smith, I came to this course because I seem to forget everything I learn aobut computers as soon as I learn it - isn't that a learning disability? I must have one. I am feeling a little disabled at the moment.
Mr. Smith,
We hope you get a lot out of these 4 days, and find some useful tools to use in your classroom.
My goals are to create a virtual classroom with a continuous threaded discussion on current events.
I also hope to push students to think globally!
Roger,
Hopefully you will come across some tools during these next few days that will help you in the classroom. I think that you will "Stumble Upon" ;-) some great things.
Mr.Smith,I can understand and sympathize with your response to this trend. I also believe that parents and others are too blame for this alarming trend. Boys are taught that boys will be boys and that they have nothing to worry about. The reason why we are behind most other countries is that parents and others have turned a blind eye to what is needed for a child to succeed. Its nice to have computers, but it has also made us lazy because we don't use our brains to figure things out. Girls are taught that not only can they be a mother but they can have it all if they want. Most boys are know want to be professional athelete's, but they don't realize the small percentage that attain their dreams.
I believe that it is true as a male that most males feel that doing their homework is optional and if it doesnt get done then it doesnt matter. Its almost as if I dont do my homework it is cool. Most of my friends that are guys take college or lower leveled classes. In fact my four best friends seem not to care what happens to their school grades at all. Even though one of my best friends parent is a teacher in Lake Region. I simply dont understand why they could care less about their future.
Then I look at some of the teachers and some, not all act as if girls are the prioity. In study hall the other day my friend and I asked if we could do our math homework quietly because I didnt have my math book. Directly after that she let girls do their homework in a group. I dindt understand why? I got up in class and was like why can they be in a group and we can't be. She said because they were "girls." There are other things like if I get an 85 on a test and I am pist a teacher may make a remark such as thats pretty good. Then later a girl will get about an 85 and she will be like well maybe you need to stay after. I mean sometime s I am the only guy in my class and I feel cornered, I hate it. I always are on my friends to do their work but they think sports are more important. I know people said gaming but really if you dont care sports can get in the way. Most of my friends will come to school with their whole project to do in during special or actually for them its probably study hall.
Zach Tomkinson
After my teacher said no to me and my friend. She allowed the girls to be a group. Sorry left that out.
As a girl I strive for good grades becsue I know that my education is what is going to get me places in life. My parents have always taught me how importan my school work is, which is another reason why I believe I work towards being a better student. When I was younger I thought that everyone did their homework and wanted good grades but as I got older I realized that it seemed that there were always those studnets who did find the need to. I never use to pick up on the fact that it was mostly girls who did their homework until my middle school years. It seemed that guys could find any reason to not do their homework. I'm not sure if thier parents don't inforrce school work being done or not. But I believe that if changes want to be made when it comes to males education, expections need to be raised. I am not balming this on teachers, but they need to be more forcefull when it comes to guys not doing their work to the best of their ability. The saying "boys will be boys" can not come into play. Also, parents should be more awear that the more their son slacks off the less better chance he has of going to college. And today jobs are hard to come by without a college education or higher. Lastly, I don't believe that this is a change that needs to slowly take place. The sooner we start the sooner change will be in affect.
Ever since I was in elementary school I've received good grades on my report cards. My mother always made sure I did my homework, but most of the time I would just get it done without her asking. I was always too hard on myself about my work. It just had to be perfect. It was the same with a couple of my friends. As I got older, I watched a lot of my friends go from A's and B's to C's, D's, and even F's. I realized that they just never did their homework. A good friend of mine has never really been into the whole school thing, and when it comes to homework, she couldn't care any less. And I am talking about a girl. There have even been times that she's seen me doing my homework and she says, "Ew, who does their homework? Homework is for geeks." She's one example of why so many people don't think doing their homework is important. First of all she doesn't like it, and second, she thinks it's a waste of time and she shouldn't have to do school work outside of school. She also believes anyone who would spend their own time on homework is a nerd. This friend is just an example of how it isn't even just the boys who feel like homework isn't cool. In fact, a good portion of my best girl friends don't feel the need to do their work. I actually believe that I am motivated when I am called a geek or a nerd because well, I'm going to go somewhere in life, while the people saying that are most likely going to end up living a rough life. Sure, sports are wonderful! I love them, and that's another motivation I have to keep up with my work. Now I can't argue that girls in general are more likely to see education as an important part of life than boys. It seems that once a boy has his mind made up to be "cool" nothing will change it. Of course, there are exeptions to that as well. One of my guy friends is in more honors classes than I am this year, and he and I generally got close to the same grade averages last school year. But altogether, I'd have to agree that more girls do their work, and do it well than boys.
I do, however, agree with Zach, in him saying that teachers seem to have more trust in girls. I've also seen boys ask to do their work together, be turned down, and soon after a group of girls will be allowed to.
I also agree with Devin, in her saying that the saying "boys will be boys," should not even be considered, because they are just as capable of good work and good grades as girls are.
From the perspective of a female high school student, every day I see students slacking off in their school work. Whether it is flat out refusing to do work or students not performing to their full potential, it is visible. As everyone has already said, the majority of the students not participating are boys. It seems to me, with the exception of a few, boys in general are very caught up in their image and the image these days is not how smart you are but how well you do in athletics, looks, and how well you get along with everyone. Students do not realize that they are not only competing with people in the same class or even in the same grade, now people everywhere are competing with Asian and European citizens for any kind of job. It's very frustrating to be in classes with students who feel that it is funny or cool to "forget" or "not do their homework" because when you put a lot of effort into doing well and getting things done on time you want to be proud of your work not mocked for being the geeks or the "preps". I think that the idea of the geek or prep image is not appealing to boys especially. But, I don't think it's fair to blame teacher's, other students, or girls for boys slacking off in school. Yes, there are teachers who do favor girls, but they do not make you fail, they don't make you not do your homework. So many times, people look to blame anyone but themselves for their poor choices and that's what I see happening today. In conclusion, it is very frustrating to me that boys can and do use this argument now as an excuse.
I agree very much with this particular statement about girls and boys. Over the years, boy attention and reasons for completing school work has decreased. They either don't care or are "too busy" with sports. As a girl, I can see that as easy as anyone else but what it make me feel is different to the other gender. Not completing an assignment because I didn't want to be never an excuse for me personally. Things left undone bothers me and I do what I can to make up for that. Many other girls are like that as well. They get their homework done and hopefully done well. Because women were below men for so long, they strive to be better. For the longest time, women would work as hard as or even harder than some men yet still come in last just because they were women. Now, the world is changing and women are accepted in the educational society more. They are capable and will work hard just because that is what they had to do for so long. The male gender got into the habit that they did not need to work as hard because they were men. Now they don't even care. Many of my guy friends get sick of me ragging on them to get their work done and to actually try. They don't care what happens to them in the long run. Some rules have been placed by both family and the educational system to try to get these boys to do their work. Sports have requirements in grades as well as behavior in school. Families reward children for good grades. This brings me to the expectations of girls verse boys. My parents have always told my brother that if he gets good grades that he will be rewarded by them. I've been getting good grades for a very long time yet they say nothing. I do get to do as I please most of the time but a little recognition for my work wouldn't hurt, but they have been use to my grades so that's what they expect. Many people nowadays expect boys to fail. They can't have that attitude or else the boys will learn to expect the same. We all can learn and succeed and we must, for we are the future.
Simply by looking at the responses to this post, I can see that while there are more girls than boys that have responded, it was in fact a guy the responded first. I agree with both views that have been stated. I have observed that typically, the boys appear to be the ones that slack off in school the most. Just the other day I was trying to finish up some homework that I hadn't had time to do the night before and a boy said to me, "You're doing homework? Who does homework? Why bother?" In response, I said in a joking voice but still serious, "Well this may seem amazing, but if you actually do your homework you usually get good grades! It may sound crazy, but it's true!" This is often the impression that I get from boys when it comes to school work. They seem to see no purpose for it or it just seems like a waste of time. Many guys would rather be outside kicking a ball or playing video games. One reason this may be is that their parents simply aren't enforcing school as much as they should. I have a friend (who is a boy) that has skipped school every day for the past two years to sit home and play video games all day and his mom doesn't seem to care at all! Yet, his twin sisters do go to school every day. It astounds me that any parent would allow their child to do this. Parents may cut their male children slack a little more, but I can't say quite from experience that I have seen this. My brother is only seven, but because my parents have pushed him to do his best and read everyday, he has become a very smart little boy who loves to read and learn and he will most likely be motivated to do his schoolwork as he gets older on his own and with my parents pushing him to do his best. Going back to what I said before, I also know of another friend of mine (who is also a boy) who's parents would allow him to stay home quite a bit too. Now he is going to school again though, motivated by one of his friends (a boy) that going to school is a good idea. Even though we see that boys are typically the ones that feel lazy about doing schoolwork, many girls feel this same way too. I have helped many friends that are both girls and boys with homework or motivate them to do work they simply "didn't feel like doing" the night before. Many times on my bus two of my friends that are girls are doing homework they either didn't have time to do or didn't feel like doing the night before and they are getting help from a guy to do it. I have even done last minute homework with some of my guy friends. Back in seventh grade, I started my GT math class being the only girl among 4 other boys. As the year went on though the class dwindled down to the point where it was only one of the boys and I left. This could go to show you that the boys felt that the class was too challenging or that they just couldn't keep up. It does, however, show that there are exceptions to the “rule” that America has come to know that boys are lazier than girls when it comes to their schoolwork. Teachers may tend to favor girls over boys but maybe it is because the girls are the ones that actually care about school. Why would teachers favor students who aren't motivated to do their work? In my opinion, it is the trend that girls care more about their schoolwork and boys are more concerned about sports or video games, but this is only a trend. There are many exceptions to both sides of this statement. I have a few friends of mine that are boys that help me with schoolwork almost every day. Then I have some friends that are girls who I motivate to get their work done everyday. I think overall, what I am trying to say is that boys tend to be the ones who slack off in school and girls are the ones who drive their hardest, but there are exceptions when it comes to both situations.
I think it's true that girls study more today. A definite example of this is our honors class. We have three guys and about eleven girls. I think the number of guys is actually an all-time high right now in the honors classes I've been in. It definitely seems true that girls are embracing education more. The reason for that, I think, is what everybody seems to be saying all along: that guys want to do more "masculine" things such as sports and videogames. Most of the guys I know tend to find education as a waste of time when they could be doing more important stuff like playing sports or such. One of my best friends said on the first day of school, "yeah, well you all take stupid honors classes," when I mentioned to him that we didn't have any classes together. That idea of "stupid honors" echoes with many of the other responses I've gotten from my guy friends when I'm doing homework at lunch or breakfast. The girls, however, never comment on the fact that I'm doing homework because they all are doing it too.
Something that I know, however, from keeping ties in India is that the guys there think education is just as important as the girls. There, the parents push their boy children more than the girls to study because the idea that the future lies with the boys still exists there. So, maybe the guys studying less is a problem occurring only in America. Just throwing that out there...
The reason I study is more because my parents push me too just like Morgan's parents. I have to admit that most of the people I know have parents that push their girl children more than the guys. I don't know the reason behind that but it just seems that girls either make more of a deal of their parents pushing them or that their parents actually do push them more. So, in other words, I think there are many reasons for girls studying more than guys and that the blame can't be put on any specific group of people like parents, or teachers like zach pointed out, or the kids themselves. I think it's more a mix of all of these things that are making the guys feel like they don't need to study anymore in America.
A lot of the obvious points have been made on the topic, but I think that something has been missed. I know some guys that are pretty intellegent, and they don't always pass. For that matter, they don't always pass with flying colors.
I agree with the fact that school is important. It teaches you facts that can be useful for whatever feild you plan to go into during your later years. Many guys don't have a strong interest in it, but the guys I know don't always think it's nessesary. A fact I have recently come to terms with is that you don't need to get A's in school to be intellegent. [May I note that the group of guys I'm refurring to are a select few scattered around.] One of the guys I'm talking about is quite likely smarter than I am. It looks like he already will have a highly sucessful job once he gets out of school. To some, the way school is taught just isn't appealing. They don't feel a need to accel because as long as they know the informatin the grade no longer matters. After all, if you know something, why should you repeat it? After reading context in a book, why should you have to prove that you know it to the teacher? As long as you know it, isn't that what's important? I assume that has to be something that crosses not only guys, but anyone who slacks off. This is a weak excuse for getting bad grades, but just because it's weak doesn't mean that it isn't true.
As it's also been said, it isn't just the guys that are like this. A good percent of my friends that are girls also slack off. Why? I'm not sure, but the closest guess I can give is that is it just isn't appealing. That, and the same reason stated above.
Also, it is mainly America with the issue I can assume. We're so used to be "#1" that we begin to slack off. One of my favorite quotes from a teacher is "Don't give me bright intellegent kids. They get bored because they find it to easy and slack off. Give me the kid who is unintellegent and will work." This I think can apply to many students all around the US. Ontop of that, we're not being told directly that we're doing a bad job. No one WANTS to tell us we're doing a bad job. Afterall, no parent [state/province/city] wants to hear that their children [students] are doing horribly. I can assume most of the kids in this class are also in our Honors English class and know Holden Caufeild. What did he tell Ms. Morrison? Things that made her feel good about her son. Why? Just so she wouldn't have to face the truth, and that is exactly what we do.
This may of digressed a bit [a lot...], but I think my point got across. The blame lies in various places. All in all, I think I can make the statement that we're a bit spoiled, hm?
Coming from a family of all grand daughters, there has always been that want to be better than the other. Wanting to do good in school is many girls first priority.
I believe that MANY boys look at school as a social engagement. Not many boys want to sit in a class and listen to a teacher talk about something they wont retain. I am not saying that all boys are like this, because there are many girls that are like this as well.
Being in school is not for everyone. Different people have different view on everything.
Another argument that I will bring up is parents. Looking at a father, a father is twice as likely to be strict on his daughter than he would his son. When you think of boys you think of the ever so popular :
What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !"
This portrays the thought that little boys are into being outdoors
catching frogs and spiders. Not in a class room for 80 minutes.
Then there is the girls:
What are little girls made of?
"Sugar and spice and all things nice
That's what little girls are made of!"
Through out history there has always been the image of a women, now in the growing society girls are looked at as needing to be "perfect" in many aspects.
Personally, my father is extremely strict when it comes to academics. Honor roll, straight A's, engaged in many extra circular activities. My father has an image of the way he wants his daughters to be represented, and he makes sure it happens.
Caitlyn Paul
As a girl I feel as though more pressure is put on me to do my best and acquire good grades. I have two step-brothers so I can relate this first hand.
When report card time comes around there is a huge difference in how I'm treated and how my brother Derek, who is a grade younger than me, is treated. Let's say I get a B- or C+ in a class, my parents would sit me down and ask me to explain why I think my grade isn't an A, and how could I bring it up to an A. If I get an A, they're happy they smile, but I am not rewarded. Now, my brother Derek brings home a report card. Say he fails a class, gets a couple C's and B's, and one or two A's. My parents would talk to him about the failing class and tell him he should work harder. But for every A or B he gets he's rewarded.
DOES THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE? I come home with an A in an honors class and I get a smile, but Derek comes home with an A in a basic course and he is rewarded.
I understand somewhat, that because I've always done well in school it's only expected that I keep up my grades, but just because my brother rarely tries or attempts homework, should he really be rewarded, and me not?
I think that boys are also less likely to do homework because people are less likely to EXPECT them to do their homework. In class I've noticed many times that if I forget an assignment a teacher may pull me aside and ask me why I didn't do it or make a comment such as "Wow, Christin I expected you to have this done." However, if a boy in my class fails to do the homework they just get a tisk tisk and a zero in the grade book. In class I've also noticed that girls are more likely to get away with chatting or working together, but when boys attempt such a thing they're immediately recognized for their bad behavior.
I'm not saying that this is all completely related to the way teachers treat boys and girls, but I do think it plays a huge role.
If teachers expected boys to do homework as often as girls, then maybe the young men would feel the need to get it done and not let their teachers down. But if teachers just laugh and expect that the they won't have it done, then the boys may think "What's the point? Why should I do the homework if they don't even care if I do or not?"
Guys,
Great work on this topic! I will add a new one tomorrow. One last comment, 86% of careers will require post-secondary education and the careers that many of you will pursue haven't even been created yet. We are following Jefferson's advice to educate the masses to guard against tyranny and oppression.
Mr. Smith
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