Sydney Adkins: Boys Will Be Boys
These past few weeks at Collège Jean Vilarhave been amazing and as our time with them comes to a close, it makes me so grateful for the experience. We have been working with them to make an iMovie describing themselves in English. They were each given a disposable camera to capture pictures of their family, home, things from their homeland, favorite food, friends, etc. Once the photos were developed, each St. Edward’s student was assigned an iPad and a Jean Vilar student to create the movie.
Sydney Adkins, from the School of BSS, works with students at Jean Vilar
We worked with them to choose which pictures to include, type the captions and record them narrating. With the presentations nearing, the students went to the computer lab to type invitations for their families in French and English. This day was particularly interesting. Computer lab day is always exciting for children, but this day the differences between genders emerged making all the more fascinating for me to observe.
As we began, Ryan told me to sit next to him so I complied. He speedily typed up his invitation, copying what Mdm. Thareau had written on the write board. He made a few mistakes that I and Mdm. Thareau corrected and then we went in search of an American flag picture to put on the invitation. The first generic flag that popped up we cut and pasted into the document and then Ryan quickly moved on. He began Google image searching soldiers and types of guns. I was not sure if I should stop him but then thought “well, boys will be boys” and decided it was harmless. As I scanned the room, this thought seemed even more salient. As soon as the boys finished they looked up pictures of guns, soccer stars, sports cars and video games. They were also rushing around the room to look at each other’s screens and deliver the occasional smack to the head. Although hitting is not the best way to express oneself, this behavior of boys hitting other boys has been very common in my experience at Jean Vilar. I have not seen an actual full-out fight, but I have seen the boys in the class hit each other on the head or arm many times each day.
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- Sydney Adkins, from the School of BSS, works with students at Jean Vilar
As I looked to the girls in the computer lab, they worked until the very end. Once they perfected their invitations, they went in search of the perfect “America” picture. Two of them googled “I Love America” in hopes to find the image that perfectly captured the sentiment. Mathilde found many pictures that suited her fancy and included all of them in her invitation. They worked quietly and independently occasionally pointing to their screen to show the others the pictures they had found. In all the time I have spent at Jean Vilar, I have never heard these girls raise their voices or seen them even come close to hitting a peer.
This day struck a chord with me because we had just discussed gender differences in class. The “boys will be boys” mentality is a direct quote from Gender Bias in Education by Amanda Chapman. She claims “…different behaviors are tolerated for boys than for girls…” This is very apparent when looking at the students at Jean Vilar. The boys run around, raise their voices and hit each other. Although it is not encouraged by any means, it goes unattended a majority of the time. I am not sure if the girls would be treated similarly since I have never witnessed the behavior from them. In the Chapman article, she states “girls are praised for being neat, quiet, and calm, whereas boys are encouraged to think independently, be active and speak up.” This statement is supported by my observations at Jean Vilar and may explain the absence of the behavior in the girls. Chapman’s article is about by what means girls are hindered by the public school system. Although I do see some evidence of what Chapman is saying, I would not say girls are being oppressed. In class, we discussed how girls have the tendency get better marks, have a higher graduation rate, a larger presence in higher education and higher scores on standardized tests but this was due to the fact that girls are quiet and follow the rules. Because of this tendency, they get better grades and the rest follows. This trend emerges from the praise of being “neat, quiet, and calm.” Since girls still succeed, I would not say this oppresses them educationally but is nonetheless a gender bias.
The opposite side of this coin is that boys are the ones suffering from the education system. In How the Schools Shortchange Boys by Gerry Garibaldi, he states that it is “boys’ aggressive and rationalist nature—redefined by educators as a behavioral disorder—that’s getting so many of them in trouble in the feminized schools.” On the other hand, girls “… succeed through cooperation.” At Jean Vilar, I have not been able to see the boys being shortchanged first hand since I have not worked with them on school assignments, nor seen their grades. If I had to, I would guess the girls are doing better because of their cooperation. Garibaldi also brings up the point that special education is mostly populated with boys, some with “behavioral disorders.” This is evident in the S.E.G.P.A. program we are working with since there are three girls and nine boys. I know one of the boys is in the program for his behavioral problems and others may be as well.
Although I cannot state for a fact which gender is being “shortchanged” by the educational system, a difference in gender is very apparent and I do not think it is unique to France. In my school experience in America, the same trends exist. Girls are quite, calm and follow the rules whereas “boys will be boys.”
