Yes

by Frances Stanford

Created on: June 07, 2010

If you ask any teacher they will tell you that they do have a preference between teaching boys and girls. In most cases you may be surprised to find that most a split between the two. There are teachers who will argue that boys are easier to teach and there are others who will do argue girls are easier to teach. In most cases however, teachers are not thinking about why they are easier to teach. They are just thinking about specific students whom they enjoyed having in their classroom and they may even change their mind from year to year as to which sex is easier to have in the classroom.

When thinking about which sex is easier to teach, teachers need to put their personal point of view aside and they need to think about the differences in learning styles and learning abilities. Teachers need to keep this in mind and they need to understand that there are significant differences in the way that boys and girls learn that extend beyond the differences in age.  What this means is that there are significant differences between the capabilities of the five year old boy and the five year old girl. There are some exceptions to the rule. In most cases teachers will find that girls are able to sit longer, concentrate longer and put more effort into completing their work. The differences seen in the learning styles of both sexes are more obvious when the children are young. For example, if you were to target a specific classroom and follow the students throughout their school years you would find that differences are more obvious in grade three and these differences, while still present in grade ten, are not as obvious and you may need to make more careful observations.

Researchers have found that girls are more likely to want to do better in school and they are seen as having higher standards when it comes to completing school work and in some cases impressing their teachers. Boys on the other hand are seen as having a more carefree attitude about school in general. When conducting this research it was found that girls are outperforming boys in almost all performance based assessments in almost all grades and subject areas. The reasons for these differences have not been confirmed but it seems that in most cases it comes down to pleasing the adults. Girls are more concerned about pleasing the adults in their life and have a tendency to be more critical of what they do rather than boys, thus making them seem to be easier to teach.

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