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Can boys-only classes solve ‘boy crisis?’
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ONE and a half years ago, when the city’s first all-boys classes were launched in a pilot project, there was considerable curiosity, controversy and skepticism.
There still is.
A lot of discussion surrounds China’s so-called “boy crisis,” referring to weak boys and young men, the only children who are pampered and smothered by parents and turn out to be socially inept in general.
It is pronounced in a society that stresses grueling study, high test scores and high marks in demanding extracurricular courses.
At the same time, boys also trail girls in reading-oriented academics, as happens in other countries.
In an attempt to help boys become better adjusted, more confident and more masculine, Shanghai No. 8 High School recruited 60 boys for two boys-only classes in 2012. The hope was and is that they will flourish in an all-male environment.
The boys were closely monitored every two months to record their progress and problems and to determine if boys-only classes are useful and feasible. The experiment’s first report card is out.
“Based on a recent survey among the boys-only classes and boys-and-girls classes, the scores of the boys-only classes are higher,” said Lu Qisheng, president of the school, in a statement last week.
Because of positive results, another 60 students will be recruited this year for two additional classes.
“The students in the boys-only classes are more challenged to raise questions and they are more confident in expressing themselves, even with a sense of humor,” Lu says.
Boys at this age are better at visual learning than absorbing written material, in which girls excel, he notes.
The classes offer more “manly” courses, such as wushu (martial arts), Chinese chess and electronic music, than coed schools.
“Boys are more interested in subjects like physics and chemistry; they like doing experiments themselves,” Lu says. “Therefore, we changed the traditional teaching method. Teachers won’t give them the answer at first but will let them find the answers in the books themselves.”
Still, issues arise about male self-esteem and rivalry.
“These boys are not willing to discuss anything about studies with their peers. They are ashamed to ask another boy for help because they don’t want to be perceived as inferior to other boys, not as capable or smart,” Lu says.
But in a coed class, some boys are willing to ask both girls and boys for help, he adds.
To address the issue, teachers broke boys into small, informal teams in which they felt more comfortable discussing problems and asking for help. There are friendly competitions within the teams.
“In this way, we want to let them know that it’s not demeaning to ask another male for help,” Lu says.
Although boys’ schools are common elsewhere in the world, there are no public or private boys’ schools in Shanghai.
The city has only one public girls’ school, the famous Shanghai No. 3 Girls’ High School that nurtured influential women such as Madame Soong Ching Ling.
However, some experts reject the idea of a boys-only school or classes.
“This boys’ high school class is not an innovation, but a naive practice,” says sociologist Gu Xiaoming, from Fudan University. “If it’s so important, why not start this boys-only experiment earlier in kindergarten or primary school?”
He says people should recognize the fact that gender characteristics are less pronounced these days, meaning men are less traditionally masculine and women less traditionally feminine and things are more unisex. He cites similar male and female clothing as an example.
Gu also cites the example of Zhangjiang nan (men ÕŽÄÐ), referring to male IT workers at Pudong’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park. “Their working environment is filled with men, and many even don’t know how to date or court a girl. This becomes a social problem.”
However, Li Zhongyang, the monitor at one boys-only class, dismisses this view.
“Every morning we run around 1,000 meters and go to the gym once a week. I feel much stronger and more masculine,” he says. “I have been asked many times if I might lose the skills to communicate with girls — but how can’t a man with chest muscles, one who can fix computers win girls’ heart?”
Some people also express concern that without the presence of girls, boys would become slovenly in appearance and manners.
“Definitely not. Our behavior is not rough, on the contrary, we even chose one school uniform in pink,” Li says. “We don’t have any problems with girls.”
A 42-year-old woman surnamed Sun says she is interested in the boys-only approach. “I want to take my boy for a try because he seems too timid and shy. I hope the school can instill a more masculine character.”
While many parents fear what they call “puppy love” because it distracts from all-important studies, Sun says she isn’t concerned about a more manly son falling in love.
But still, some parents believe the coed experience is essential.
“I don’t see any reason to deprive my son of the opportunity to approach girls at his age,” says 39-year-old Rebecca Wu, an accountant. “My parents sent me to a girls’ school for six years and that undermined my ability to communicate with men at university and afterward. I don’t want the same kind of thing to happen to my son.”
“Establishing a boys’ school cannot solve the boys’ crisis without accompanying changes in the current education system, such as over-emphasis on highly competitive testing, high scores and awards that decide everything for a student,” says Xu Guangxing, a psychology professor at Shanghai East China Normal University.
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