Boarding Schools for Girls

Teachers of young children who believe that girls are not talented at math tend to communicate that stereotype to their female students. These students, in turn, do more poorly at math than students of teachers who do not have such stereotypes, according to a new study from the University of Chicago.

Professors Sian Beilock and Susan Levine studied 17 first and second grade female teachers at the beginning and end of a school year. Some of them expressed a lack of confidence in their own abilities in mathematics.

"The more anxious the teachers were about math, the more likely it was that girls believed, 'Boys are good at math and girls are good at reading,'" the authors said in a report presented before the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

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Labels: school, math, teachers

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A study of 1,000 British men found that 48 percent believe that their male primary teachers had the most impact on their lives. Over 20 percent said their male teachers increased their self-confidence, and 35 percent said their teachers had encouraged them to work harder in the primary grades.

The results are significant because only 13 percent of British primary teachers are men.

Some psychologists have pointed out that with increasingly higher rates of single mothers raising boys, male teachers are often a British child's only male role model.

"Male primary school teachers can often be a stable and reliable figure in the lives of the children they teach," said Dr. Tanya Byron, a clinical psychologist and government advisor.

Labels: teachers, boys

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Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24. Lorel Humberg, counselor at Orangeburg Area Mental Health Center, says there are warning signs parents and friends should watch for.

"If a teenager or child says things like 'I just don't want to be here' or 'You'd be better off without me,' take it seriously," Humberg said. "If they suddenly seem to be so much better, that's when the dangerous time is. All of the a sudden, it's okay. That may mean that they've decided to go ahead with plans to end it, especially if they start giving away their favorite clothes and possessions."

Humberg also urges young people who are contemplating suicide to talk to an adult they trust. She calls suicide a "permanent solution to a temporary problem." The feelings of depression or hopelessness will pass, she said, but sometimes young people need help realizing the transitory nature of their emotions. Source: The Times and Democrat (South Carolina)

Labels: teachers, parents, suicide

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A yearlong survey has determined that parents of boys are twice as likely as parents of girls to discuss concerns about their children's behavior and emotional well-being with school personnel and health care professionals.

The survey, which was conducted during the 2005-2006 academic year, was released Sept. 3, 2008, by the National Center for Health Statistics. According to a USA Today article by Marilyn Ellis that was published the same day, experts aren't sure what these results indicate about the state of American families:

Nearly 1 out of 5 boys had parents who discussed such difficulties, and about 1 out of 10 girls, says the report from more than 17,000 parents with children 4 to 17 years old. ...

There's no comparable earlier survey, but some children's mental health experts were surprised at the extent of concern, especially for boys  and divided as to whether it's a good or bad sign.

The high number of parents who confide worries shows "the very, very narrow range of normalcy allowed for children these days," says behavioral pediatrician Lawrence Diller of Walnut Creek Calif., author of The Last Normal Child. "Welcome to the age of anxiety, where more is expected of children academically and in self-discipline, while both parents are working, so there's less support and structure."

Mental health care for children has undergone significant changes in recent years, Ellis reported. Antidepressant prescriptions dropped significantly following a 2004 warning by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but the presence of mental health experts is increasing in schools and pediatric practices.

Labels: parenting, teachers, doctors

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