Boys have a hard time in school. Teachers like the way girls sit still in school and don’t fool around. Boys are much too fidgety. My son Charles tried out school for one day; he complained for a week that his legs hurt him from sitting all day in class. When the principal asked if he liked the school, he said it was OK, but he didn’t plan to make a career of it. We homeschooled him.
Someone has finally noticed that requiring active children, especially boys, to sit still in hard seats all day does not produce the best environment for learning. The New York Times reports that in a Minnesota classroom
Unlike children almost everywhere, those in Ms. Brown’s class do not have to sit and be still. Quite the contrary, they may stand and fidget all class long if they want.
And they do.
On one recent morning, while 11-year-old Nick Raboin had his eye on his math problems, Ms. Brown was noticing that he preferred to shift his weight from one foot to the other as he figured out his fractions. She also knew that his classmate Roxy Cotter liked to stand more than sit. And Brett Leick is inclined to lean on a high stool and swing his right foot under a desk that is near chest level. Helps with concentration, he and Ms. Brown say.
On one recent morning, while 11-year-old Nick Raboin had his eye on his math problems, Ms. Brown was noticing that he preferred to shift his weight from one foot to the other as he figured out his fractions. She also knew that his classmate Roxy Cotter liked to stand more than sit. And Brett Leick is inclined to lean on a high stool and swing his right foot under a desk that is near chest level. Helps with concentration, he and Ms. Brown say.
The children in Ms. Brown’s class, and in some others at Marine Elementary School and additional schools nearby, are using a type of adjustable-height school desk, allowing pupils to stand while they work, that Ms. Brown designed with the help of a local ergonomic furniture company two years ago.
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Ms. Brown says she got the idea for the stand-up desks after 20 years of teaching in which she watched children struggle to contain themselves at small hard desks.
Another teacher has noticed it helps both students and teachers:
I’ve never seen students with their heads down, ever. It helps with being awake, if they can stand, it seems. And for me as a teacher, I can stand at their level to help them. I’m not bent over. I can’t think of one reason why a classroom teacher wouldn’t want these.”
One key to educating boys is to combine learning and physical activity. Sports helps with the activity, but not with the learning. We need a peripatetic mode of education.