a little more McLuhan (& maybe Pynchon)

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Gender traits in toddlers would probably map out as a reverse bell curve (y-axis being the number of people, x-axis being the boy to girl continuum - or girl to boy, if you want).  Most toddlers identify as very boy-like or very girl-like.  Still there's a smaller but solid center that combines (or rejects) both traits in varying amounts.  So maybe toddlers should be guided towards the middle:  do you want to sit and read a book about killer dinosaurs, or build a pink princess house with lego blocks?

Laura


-----Original Message-----
>From: Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
>Sent: Aug 24, 2011 8:44 AM
>To: alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
>Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: a little more McLuhan (& maybe Pynchon)
>
>I noticed during my years of teaching kindergarten that if you give a boy two toy dinosaurs he will just start crashing their heads together playing "fight." A girl will start up a story between the two, "Okay, you be the mom and I'll be the dad. Oh look, here's our house."
>
>I've only ever known one girl who greeted her friends with a headlock. 
>
>Two boys will sit down with a pile of blocks and without a word start building something (a tower)  coopertively. This is a marvel to watch!   Two girls will sit down with a pile of blocks and discuss to no end how they re building whatever (a house with rooms)  with direction, redirection, and so on - every detail is hashed out as they go along. 
>
>Girls pick up and use oral language skills so much faster than boys. This is really general because there are talky boys and quiet girls, too. 
>
>I have no idea why boys aren't readers like girls are readers. I suspect it has something to do with the above plus the sedentary nature of reading, no role models in older brothers, dads, uncles, etc. The books in elementary school are fiction and relationship oriented. 
>
>From my first day teaching I was aware of this problem boys tended to have and deliberately had "boy" things in my classrooms, trains, car tracks, little rockets along with the play house. And I had books with photographs of snakes and lizards and spiders and so on - monster trucks were quite popular.  But a teacher cannot overcome testosterone - the boys want to run and jump and crash the cars - it's part of boyness. 
>
>Bekah
>
>
>On Aug 24, 2011, at 6:58 AM, alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> It takes skill and, while females may master the circle, a reflection
>> of the inner self (Erikson)  boys don't like circles yet and tend to
>> draw towers or big trees with giant creatures that spit fire and
>> destroy the towers. Given blocks, this pattern is almost universal.
>> One of the reasons boys don't read and write as much as we want them
>> to is because teachers in the lower grades, who are usually young
>> females or females anyway, discourage boys from writing and reading
>> and drawing because boy subjects frighten them.
>> 
>> On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 12:59 AM, David Payne <dpayne1912 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> On Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:20:05 -0500, David Morris (fqmorris at gmail.com)
>>> 
>>>> ...Given a crayon, one of the first forms a child draws is a closed
>>>> circle.
>>> 
>>> Not true. That takes considerable practice. At least for my kids.
>>>