lgsracer

Teachers told not to be gun shy

Robert Booth, London
December 30, 2007



BOYS should be encouraged to play with toy guns at infant school because it can help improve academic performance, according to British Government advice.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families said boys aged between three and five had fallen behind female classmates partly because teaching staff tried to curb their desire for boisterous play involving weapons. Boys were more likely to be interested in education and would do better if encouraged to pursue their chosen play.

Teachers' unions say that toy guns "symbolise aggression" and teachers ought to stop them being used. They also criticised the Government for stereotyping boys.

The guidance, Confident, Capable and Creative: Supporting Boys' Achievements, said national data for 2004-06 showed that in pre-school education, boys performed worse than girls across all areas of learning.

It is a pattern the Government says continues up to the age of 15 and 16. Better results can be achieved if teachers curb their "instincts" to stop boys from playing with toy guns and instead make better use of their interests.

"Sometimes practitioners find the chosen play of boys more difficult to understand and value than that of girls," the guidance states.

"They may choose activities in which adults involve themselves least, or play that involves more action and a greater use of the available space, especially outdoors. Images and ideas gleaned from the media are common starting points in boys' play and may involve characters with special powers or weapons. Adults can find this type of play particularly challenging and have a natural instinct to stop it."

It said this was unnecessary as long as staff helped boys understand and respect the rights of other children.

GUARDIAN

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...778767028.html

P95Carry

Well, I'll be ....... ''gobsmacked'' as they say in UK!!!

It sure would be useful to have kids know that ''a gun'' even exists (toy, or real) and then to teach them about what guns are and how to respect them - even if their privelage to own guns later has all but been restricted. Play with guns can also, with input from adults, be a good way to teach safety.

Toy guns when I was a kid in UK never did any harm - but back then there was way more relaxed attitude towards both the toys and genuine article. Education on guns and weapons in general is way more useful and effective than trying to sweep the whole deal under the carpet.

__________________
Chris - P95
NRA Certified Instructor & NRA Life Member.

"To own a gun and assume that you are armed
is like owning a piano and assuming that you are a musician!."

If a BG dies as the result of pointing a gun at me, then he has merely succumbed to an occupational hazard of being a thug

hayley

Somewhere, Thomas Arnold is smiling...a little.

P7fanatic

Sounds like pure stupidity to me since the British government has been systematically depriving its citizens of arms and the right to defend themselves for years.

__________________
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." -Thomas Jefferson

"Liberalism is a Mental Disorder." -Michael Savage

GOOD Gun Control is being able to hit your target! -Myself

chiefs-special-guy

talk about obvious!
we had some friends who would not let their son have any toy guns or weapons. (my boys have an arsenal). when the kid was about 4, he would run around using anything- his sister's doll, for example- as a gun, pointing it at other boys and yelling "blam!"
now, you would think that intelligent people would catch on to this- boys and girls are different! they act differently! they think differently! they were not intended to be identical, and it is not possible to make them so. it is harmful to prevent them from playing in these ways. the girls like dolls, the boys like swords, and that is the way it is no matter what.
God Bless

__________________
Six for sure...Uh, I mean Five. Five for sure..

falcon1

+1. I cannot remember which woman said this in National Review years ago, but I believe she was right: "Our job is to civilize our sons, not to feminize them."

pogo2

Anybody who has lived for awhile, kept their eyes open, and not paid attention to political correctness knows that boys and girls are different in their interests, behavior and characteristics. So the article is simply stating the truth, which applies in Britain, here and everywhere else.

And I have hope for the British, since pendulums swing both ways and their current experiment in disarming their people could start to go the other way some day. Call me an optimist.

__________________
Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the Peoples' Liberty's Teeth." - George Washington