Review #2
Review of Boys and Girls Learn Differently! Part Three
Krista L. Botton
California State University, Northridge
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Abstract
Paper discusses part three of Boys and Girls Learn Differently!, a text by Michael Gurian
that considers how teachers and administrators of junior high and high school aged children can
better understand and attend to the developmental changes that children experience within the
school context. Included are a summary of the methods that can be utilized to create the ultimate
environment for learning for students within these age groups, analysis of the text by the author
of this paper and its application to real-life practice.
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Review of Boys and Girls Learn Differently! Part Three
Summary of Part One
Part three of the text by Michael Gurian, discusses the ultimate middle school and high
school classroom and the roles these settings can play in the emotional, psychological and social
development of adolescents. For the purposes of this paper I will concentrate more on his
recommendation for the ultimate high school classroom since this is the setting in which I teach.
I taught in a junior high school for seven weeks and now consider it to be my “tour of duty;” I
have no intentions to return. Many of Gurian’s ideas for middle school do carry over into the
high school setting, in fact he makes mention of this in the first section of chapter 6. He stated
that “the first two years of high school are developmental years like middle school” (p. 264) so
many of his strategies for the ultimate classroom overlap. His text in this chapter is subdivided
into three major sections: bonding and attachment, structural innovations, and innovations to
improve academic learning, these will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
Bonding and Attachment
Gurian began this section of the book with a discussion of the continued need for children
to feel attachment and love and how this progresses from the family and educators to the need to
fit in and be accepted by their peers. The adolescent has a strong need to begin to pull away from
family to form their own identity and this is often accomplished through peer interactions who in
a way become the new “family.” The important part here for educators is that often feelings of
belonging can also impact a student’s ability to learn. He stated that “memory…is enhanced if an
adolescent learner feels emotionally cared for by the instructor” (p. 266). It is important to make
sure that each student feels love (although I believe that it is not necessarily love, but rather
value) to be successful in the classroom.
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Gurian also discussed the art of conflict resolution in this section on bonding and
attachment. In a conflict situation, either with another peer or with a teacher, the adolescent is
primarily concerned with making sure (s)he doesn’t look bad in front of his/her peers. Reactions
of the student may vary by gender but the intention is the same. Here Gurian stressed the
importance of teachers, if in the wrong, apologizing to the student. In the case of student conflict,
he recommended utilizing a peer mediation program so that a student who is trained in conflict
resolution can help others understand the issues and begin to work through the conflict together.
Also important to the adolescent who may be trying to break away from parental bonds
but still needing guidance and direction from an adult, is a mentor. “A mentor bonds with a
group of students, is a primary role model, an treats them as a grandparent or aunt or uncle
would, pushing them, prodding them, listening to them, and – only when appropriate – letting
them go” (p. 269). This mentor position does not need to be a teacher, but any adult who is
willing to help and cares about the group or individual.
Gurian also discussed discipline or the frequent lack there of by schools and families. He
introduced here a discipline council which is a group composed of students and teachers to deal
with the discipline issues on a campus. It can almost be compared to a court where “the student’s
conduct is analyzed, and all the people involved in an incident – including teachers – find their
behavior scrutinized” (p. 272). The council then determines the appropriate actions to take in
order to rectify the situation, often by vote.
Lastly in this section, Gurian pressed the importance of character education and required
service projects for graduation, a theme that he has carried throughout the text. Character
education including random drug testing could help to curb high-risk behavior and to provide
earlier intervention and help for students who are found to be positive for drugs. The required
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service project is aimed to increase the adolescent’s awareness of the needs of their community
and the role that all individuals have in meeting these needs.
Structural Innovations
In this section, Gurian discussed, as he has in previous chapters, the need to keep class
sizes small. “The smaller the class size the higher the potential for deep bonding with peers and
with teachers, and the lower the potential for discipline problems” (p. 275). This goes hand-inhand with the previous section on bonding and attachment. He still called for the separation of
boys and girls in the educational classroom at least through ninth grade, but here especially,
called for a reduction in the numbers of students per teacher in English and social studies classes
for males, and the same for females but for classes in math and science. He also suggested the
use of a homeroom throughout high school. This homeroom could be a smaller environment
where decreasing class sizes throughout campus may not be possible and could bring about the
group or team environment that nurtures the adolescent from year to year.
Gurian also suggested the use of uniforms, or at a minimum strict dress codes, in middle
and high school campuses to detract attention from the individual and place it back on the task at
hand in school: learning in a team environment. The manners in which students dress often move
to the forefront their individualism, dominance over others and mating behaviors and these issues
“must be made a lower priority,” (p. 277). Instead, we must make the environment one in which
enhancement of learning is made the priority. In addition, the requirement of uniforms can be
used as a unifier and draw students together. This happens when we don’t allow the individual to
be placed above the group, when we have “respect for the group first and respect for the
individual second” (p. 279). We can encourage this behavior at school by teaching that “putting
on a uniform in a way represents putting on a commitment to your school. It says, ‘I support [my
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school]’” (p. 278). The idea of uniforms is often met with great dissention by the students who
are preoccupied at this stage of life in creating a new, individual identity for themselves as
discussed earlier.
Next, Gurian discussed the adolescent circadian rhythm and the need for sleep. The hours
that school is held are often contradictory to an adolescent’s biological timing and the “amount
of sleep a student gets correlates strongly with academic performance and social behavior” (p.
280). To amend this problem, districts should consider starting schools later (rather than the
current trend to earlier) and the timing of certain classes in the school day should also be
considered. For example, math classes would be best offer to the students in midmorning when
they are most prepared to handle the material biologically. Gurian also suggested “extending
school hours and holding Saturday classes” (p. 281). By increasing the time students spend in
learning and/or practicing their knowledge, the better the chance they have at successful
learning.
Gurian continued with some innovations that students desired from their campuses which
for the most part, followed what educators have been pushing for because of their potential
improvements to education and understanding (smaller class sizes, increase in technology, more
AP and honors classes, arts including band, drama, pottery, painting, choir and photo, and field
trips). But students also included a desire a more thorough sex education and psychosocial
education. Students wanted schools to teach them about life and the skills they will need to be
successful in the world. This included things like cultural differences, success skills, manners,
fixing things, how to find a job, protecting yourself, caring for others. The sex education they
desired included more than the structures and functions of reproductive parts but also the
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differences between the genders, how to communication with the opposite gender and should
also include cultural acceptance and sexual harassment training.
Innovations to Improve Academic Learning
As throughout the text, Gurian reminded us in this section that as teachers, we need to be
aware of the differences in the brains of adolescents and work toward creating equality in our
classrooms. In other words, focus on verbal skills with males, and math and science with
females. By recognizing the differences and working to mediate them, we go a long way in the
development of the individual and their capacity at success.
Gurian also stressed the idea that standardized tests, such as the SAT should be changed
to decrease the disparity between genders. By including essay responses, the test would cater less
to the male and allow increased success by the female. Gurian also pointed out the trend toward
grade inflation. Often scores in classes are not consistent with the scores on standardized tests.
This occurs because teachers are trying to prevent failure in the system by making allowances in
their grades so that students can succeed, sometimes without the knowledge the students were
intended to acquire in the class. This disparity creates problems as students enter college and are
consider applicants to these institutions which must decide on the best student fit to their campus.
Analysis and Application of Part Three
For the most part, I found this section of text to be interesting and thorough. It showed a
thoughtful picture of the adolescent that is seen daily in my classroom. It also reminded me of
the importance of my practice in developing the adolescent. One area I need to remember is to
clearly express how each individual is valued and respected in my classroom. This is often
difficult since at times, the ways that they act are “unlovable.” I need to realize that at this time
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in their life they are pulling away from adult connections at home and need to maintain those
strong ties to adults elsewhere, like in my classroom.
One interesting idea that was discussed in this section of text is the idea of a discipline
council. I find this to be an intriguing idea that could be extremely effective because a student
would have to have their errant behaviors publicly addressed. I think this could be very effective
in curbing many behavioral issues that campuses deal with regularly. I’m not sure as to how the
selection to the council occurs, when the council would meet, what (if any) training occurs, etc.
and how this would work into the school day, but it is certainly a novel approach to a continuing
problem. After some further research, it would be interesting to look into this sort of model for
my own campus.
I also like the idea of character education, drug testing and required community service.
This is an idea that could easily be incorporated into a campus’ homeroom. Character education
and community service activities (like river rally clean up, food drive for food pantry, collections
for different community organizations, etc) could even be completed by the homeroom class and
could also function to bring the students together as a team. Currently, the campus I teach at
doesn’t have a homeroom, and this is another innovation that could be researched and
implemented. The homeroom teacher would almost act as a mentor for this smaller group of
students, not the teacher in this respect, and issues addressing the group could be monitored and
discussed within the comfort and consistency of the homeroom.
I also love the idea of uniforms. My favorite quote for the text came out of this section
because it is something I see in the adolescents in my classroom all the time. The quote is, “I
came to high school to get laid” (p. 277). There is such pressure to rebel from their childhood
roles and the girls move toward becoming objects of sexual attraction and boys move toward
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displaying dominance and recklessness. I really can’t see the idea of uniforms flying at my
campus but a more strict level of dress code would be ideal. This biggest problem here, is that I
don’t see it as the teacher’s role to enforce dress code. The classroom teacher’s focus really
needs to be the classroom and the education that occurs within the time that they are given. In
addition, each teacher’s idea of acceptable varies and the result in often widespread
inconsistencies in this dress code. This is also exceedingly difficult to enforce when teachers do
not set an example of appropriate dress themselves and it goes largely unchecked by
administration. There a large number of teachers at my campus who come to work daily in flipflops, T-shirts and shorts. It is hard to ask the students to do better when the teachers don’t buy
into a professional dress atmosphere themselves.
Another great idea that has been contemplated on my campus is the timing of school.
Unfortunately, it has been met with quite a bit of resistance. Many years ago, to alleviate
overcrowding, a seven period day was started with the first class beginning at 7:00 a.m. Only the
juniors and seniors were originally permitted to enroll in the period 1 class (with the exception of
band members who were freshmen or sophomores). Period 1 has now become a class of great
demand at all levels despite the fact that the students will honestly admit they are too tired to
learn; their major concern is the ability to get done with school before lunch. A few years ago,
when the administration tried to get rid of period 1 (again, except for classes like band) and force
the students into classes after lunch, there was a major rebellion and many students decided to
take classes at the local community college for concurrent credit in order to end their day at
lunch as has been the precedent on the campus.
Most of the recommendations provided in this text are school community issues that I
cannot, isolated in my own classroom address. Besides valuing my students and communicating
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with them how they are respected in my own room and are important to me there is not a lot I
can do alone, to address these differences. One of the things I will make an effort to change for
next year is the format of my tests. The majority of my tests are scantron-based multiple choice
tests that I have now learned are not the best for my female learners (and in science I need to
make sure that they are given opportunities to succeed so that they do not become discouraged). I
will also make an effort to address the verbal skills of my male students perhaps by allowing
more completely male/female groupings for classroom activities. I can see that there are
important innovations that as a collective group we should consider in order to make our students
more successful; innovations that are more fitting to their development and physical brain
differences.
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References
Gurian, Michael and Henly, Patricia (2001). Boys and Girls Learn Differently!. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
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