Boys' Misbehavior May be Misunderstood
rvsd Oct/14
by Natalie Angier
1
Until quite recently, the tautology "boys will be boys" summed up everything
parents needed to know about their Y-chromosome bundles. Boys will be very noisy
and obnoxious. Boys will tear around the house and break precious objects. They will
swagger and boast and lie and not do their homework and leave their dirty underwear
on the bathroom floor.
2.
But they will also be adventurous and brave. When they fall down, they'll get up,
give a cavalier spit to the side and try again.
3.
Today, the world is no longer safe for boys. A boy being somewhat too boyish
risks finding himself under the scrutiny of parents, teachers, guidance counselors, child
therapists  all of them on watch for the early symptoms of a medical syndrome, a
behavioral disorder. Does the boy disregard authority, make sneering comments in
class, push other kids around and miss school? Maybe he has a conduct disorder. Is
he fidgety, impulsive, disruptive, easily bored? Perhaps he is suffering from ADHD
(attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) the most frequently diagnosed behavioral
disorder of childhood. Does he prefer computer games or idleness to homework? He
might have dyslexia or another learning disorder.
4.
"There is now an attempt to pathologize what was once considered the normal
range of behavior of boys," said Melvin Konner of the Departments of Anthropology
and Psychiatry at Emory University in Atlanta. "Today, our childhood heroes like Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn surely would have been diagnosed with both conduct
disorder and ADHD," And both, perhaps, would have been put on Ritalin, the drug
used for treating attention-deficit disorder.
5
To be fair, many children do have genuine medical problems like ADHD, and
they benefit enormously from the proper treatment. Psychiatrists insist that they work
very carefully to distinguish between the merely uncontrolled child, and the child who
has a serious, organic disorder that is disrupting his life and putting him at risk for all
the demons of adulthood: drug addiction, shiftlessness, underemployment, criminality
and the like.
6.
At the same time, some doctors and social critics cannot help to notice that so
many of the childhood syndromes now being diagnosed in record numbers affect far
more boys than girls. Attention deficit disorder, said to afflict 5 percent of all children, is
thought to be about three to four times more common in boys than girls. Dyslexia is
thought to be about four times more prevalent in boys than girls; and boys practically
have the patent on conduct disorders. Furthermore, most of the traits that brand a child
as a potential victim just happen to be traits associated with young males: aggression,
rowdiness, restlessness, loud-mouthedness, rebelliousness. Nevertheless, none of
these characteristics is exclusive to the male sex, of course.
7.
Perhaps part of the reason why boyish behavior is suspect these days is
Americans' obsessive fear of crime. "We're all really terrified of violence," said Dr.
Edward Hallowell, a child psychiatrist at Harvard. "Groups of people who have trouble
containing aggression come under suspicion." And what group has more trouble
containing aggression than males under the age of 21?
8.
Another cause for the intolerance of boyish behavior is the current school
system. It is more group-oriented than ever before, leaving little room for the jokester,
the tough, the tortured individualist. American children are said to be excessively
coddled and undisciplined, yet in fact they spend less time than their European or
Japanese counterparts at recess where kids burn off the manic energy they've stored
up while trapped in the classroom. Because boys have a somewhat higher average
metabolism than do girls, they are likely to become more restless when forced to sit still
and study.
9.
Charlotte Tomaino, a clinical neuropsychologist, notes that the road to success
in this life has gotten increasingly narrow in recent years. "The person who used to
have greater latitude in doing one thing and moving onto another suddenly is the
person who can’t hold a job," she said. "We define success as what you produce, how
well you compete, how well you keep up with the tremendous cognitive and technical
demands put upon you.” The person who will thrive is the one who can sit still,
concentrate and do his job for the required 10, 12 or 14 hours a day.
QUESTIONS
1. The saying "Boys will be boys" suggests that
a. male sex is determined by the Y chromosome.
b. all behavior is determined by genes.
c. boys are expected to misbehave.
d. parents can't control their sons behavior.
2. A. Fill in each space with ONE word only.
ADHD is a ________________ disorder and dyslexia is a ________________
disorder.
B. What are the symptoms that experts look for in children? (continue the
sentences in the chart)
Disorder
Symptoms
ADHD
The child …
Dyslexia
The child …
3. “There is now an attempt to pathologize what was once considered the
normal range of behavior of boys" (paragraph 4)
This statement means that today experts classify certain behavior as
__________________ while in the past the same behavior was regarded as
__________________.
4. Paragraph 5: It is important to diagnose whether a boy’s behavior is an organic
disorder because there is a danger that organic disorders lead to ________________
____________________________________________________________________.
5. The statistics in paragraph 6 illustrate the idea that ________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
6. What two reasons are given in paragraphs 7-8 for the fact that “boyish behavior" is
not tolerated nowadays?
a.
______________________________________________________
b.
______________________________________________________
7. What is the different between girls and boys? Circle the correct choice according to
paragraph 8
Girls are (less/ more) restless while studying because their metabolism levels are
(lower/ higher).
8. According to Charlotte Tomaino, what kind of person cannot hold a job?
__________________________________________________________________
9. What is the author' s purpose in writing this article?
a.
to show that boys’ misbehaviour is no longer viewed with the understanding it
once had.
b.
to show that all boys who misbehave suffer from some kind of
organic disorder.
c.
to show that boys who misbehave will become aggressive and
unstable adults.
d. to show that boys who misbehave are more common than girls
that misbehave.
Prefixes and Suffixes: Fill in the following chart.
Base Word
Word from Article
Meaning
misbehavior (Title)
misunderstood (Title)
adventurous (para 2)
boyish (para 3)
disorder (para 3)
disregard (para 3)
easily (para 3)
pathologize (para 4)
uncontrolled (para 5)
adulthood (para 5)
`
addiction (para 5)
criminality (para 5)
rebelliousness (para 6)
undisciplined (para 8)
restless (para 8)
Vocabulary Exercises
I. Find a word(s) in the text that means the same as:
1.
not long ago (p.1) ______________
2.
show off (p.1) ______________
3.
watchful eye (p.3) ______________
4.
dismiss (p.3) ______________
5.
laziness (p.3) ______________
6.
span (p.4) ______________
7.
true (p. 5) ______________
8.
label (p. 6) ______________
9.
can’t keep (p.9) ______________
II. Match the words to their definitions / meanings.
Words
disorder
boyish
disregard
genuine
misbehaviour
thrive
brand
prevalent
1. Acting in a way that is considered naughty
furthermore
undisciplined
…………………………………
2. A malady or kind of illness ………………………………..
3. Act like a male child …………………………..
4. True or real ……………………..
5. Label or mark with a sign or name ………………………….
6. Lacking self-control ………………………………
7. In addition ……………………………………………
8. Do well, succeed …………………………
9. Not pay attention ………………………..
10. Happens much of the time ……………………………………………….