Showing a video on Genes and Allelles and Punet Squares in Biology today... When talking about the Pea plant experiment, any mention of sex or sex organs illicit a giggle and sex jokes from them :-/
Yes. Freshman boys are always the immature. Mine burp and fart and touch each other constantly. It's like they are another species, and mature into being human between freshman and sophomore year.
My mom taught high school and loved it, but she always said freshmen just weren’t quite human yet. Her favorite years were 10th and 11th. She is loving retirement!
I think it’s just one of those culture shocks. Eventually after they’re exposed to the material and understand what you mean in context, they’ll stop. It could also be one of those laughing when the teacher cusses situations. Sometimes it’s really disrespect, but most of the time it’s either nervous laughter, laughing at that because they haven’t seen that in school before, etc.
From my experience, your giggling male students are compensating for embarrassment regarding the subject. They're probably sitting close to girls, and a young man's mind is never too far from the opposite sex. So while they're imagining whatever it is they are imagining, you're up there using clinical words to describe the process they were thinking about. My advice is to tell them to stop, and then get on with the class. If they don't, umm... I would stop everything and go over and ask the guys if they would prefer getting their credits through mail order, because that is what they are asking for if they continue to disrupt the class.
I’m not saying your wrong, but I do think some of these statements are a bit harsh. Sometimes it may be emotional regulation for surprise, embarrassment, or other emotions, but I think it’s a little judgmental at least and sexist at most to say that the students mind is probably on sex and it’s a source of embarassment for them due to their mind always being on it. They are in puberty, but they aren’t subhuman. We adapt to new situations around us, and going into high-school is a big change. Big environmental changes are often met with big emotional changes, and sometimes people do need to regulate. I’d much rather my students giggle at something that makes them a little uncomfortable than be hitting walls or fighting for that regulation.
Harsh or sexist or judgmental aren't words I consider important. I did not say that they are subhuman, and to even suggest that I did is unwarranted. They're children going through puberty, and if laughter is one of the tools they use, then that's completely understandable. At least they're being open about it.
I am a strong proponent of freedom of speech, but sexism has no place in the classroom or elsewhere, against men OR women.
I think he's talking about other posters, Belch. There are a couple on this thread who do rather explicitly imply that freshmen boys are subhuman. There's a lot of sexist assumptions here, though. For example, there's an implication that the girls are more mature solely because they don't make these kinds of jokes.
Those are just pejoratives Richard used with the assumption that they are bad. As 3sons pointed out, the thread title itself is sexist because it asks if all freshmen boys are immature with the implication that girls are not. I don't consider it bad for kids to be immature, and boys in particular. If you were to ask my wife, she'd expand that to include me as well. So naturally, I don't consider "sexist" to be bad. As for harsh and judgmental, I have to be judgmental on a daily basis in my classroom, and sometimes it is harsh.
Only in politically correct land. Being politically correct might work if you like to self censor yourself, but it's hardly a matter for teachers to worry about. We have real students who have real issues that need to be understood and addressed. Some of the most popular comedians have gained their fame through sexual jokes. There really are differences between the sexes, and to assume otherwise is to ignore basic biology. You can try coming up with a theory for monology, but that's just not how evolution works.
I am the last person who is politically correct. However, I don’t think any setting is appropriate for sexual jokes, except for maybe a comedy routine. And especially not in primary school. Why don’t you ask what your principal thinks about your thoughts or that of your school district superintendent? Also, explain to me how laughing because someone says, “Boobies,” for example, IS a sign of maturity? For that matter, how is it a sign of maturity if someone loudly exclaims, “Boobies!” in a public area?
