In high school I've seen several interesting trends relating to similar issues. I teach primarily sophomores, kids who enter the year at 15 and get their driver's licenses during the year. Many enter into their first real dating relationships during the year as well.
When they do, the grades of girls and boys tend to drop dramatically and very quickly. I suspect it's primarily due to an inability to function in the rest of one's life when one is utterly focused on that fascinating member of the opposite sex. Learning this sort of balancing act is just one of the worthwhile studies of high school.
It's been my experience that the boy's grades, which are usually lower on average then girl's, tend to come back up more quickly than the girls. I suspect this is due to the complete emotional infatuation girls tend to have, which is more long lasting than that of boys.
Only time, and more dating experience, seems to be a cure for this syndrome.
I'd be interested to hear what others have to say about this.
"One reason we might guess that smarter people in high school, or in more challenging colleges or majors, delay their sexual debuts is because they are delaying gratification in expectation of future reward. Sexual behavior (or at least the investment needed to procure a partner or sustain one) may compete with time/resources required for other goals, and intelligent people may have more demanding goals."
Wow, I think there is way too much thought put into this subject. To me the truth is quite clear: The more time spent doing other things the lower the GPA. It doesnt matter if the time was spent kissing behind the school or playing football. At least its true with me, I think i am capable of getting A's in school but then i would have to take time away from things I really like doing, Football, working out, reading, and playing the saxaphone. So while everyone is fast to blame it on sex the real problem is that there are only 24 hours in a day and too many things to fill it up. So the question we must ask ourselves is what our priorities are. I myself would rather spend my time playing my sax or playing in a football game than work constantly on homework, and thats okay. (I probably made some teachers mad, Sorry)
What I find scary is the total lack of nosiness on the part of modern parents. My mother would wait up until I got home from a date and I am sure if I had done something, she would know. Which of course meant I delayed anything until much later. I teach mostly freshmen. They discuss and write notes about things I didn't even hear of until college. And they offer services that would have nailed them as "sluts" in my day, but that seem to boost popularity these days. When we have our start of the year message from the nurse, she always warns us to never touch blood from our students because "they have lots and lots of unprotected sex and some have some very nasty diseases,trust me, I know." And this is in one of the most upscale neighborhoods surrounding Dallas. But then, what do these parents expect when they rent hotel rooms for prom night? And kegs for Sweet Sixteens?
In high school I've seen several interesting trends relating to similar issues. I teach primarily sophomores, kids who enter the year at 15 and get their driver's licenses during the year. Many enter into their first real dating relationships during the year as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen they do, the grades of girls and boys tend to drop dramatically and very quickly. I suspect it's primarily due to an inability to function in the rest of one's life when one is utterly focused on that fascinating member of the opposite sex. Learning this sort of balancing act is just one of the worthwhile studies of high school.
It's been my experience that the boy's grades, which are usually lower on average then girl's, tend to come back up more quickly than the girls. I suspect this is due to the complete emotional infatuation girls tend to have, which is more long lasting than that of boys.
Only time, and more dating experience, seems to be a cure for this syndrome.
I'd be interested to hear what others have to say about this.
lol... I just posted on a simular subject.
ReplyDeleteSmart teens don't have sex (or kiss much either).
I quoted Jason Malloy over at GNXP who said:
"One reason we might guess that smarter people in high school, or in more challenging colleges or majors, delay their sexual debuts is because they are delaying gratification in expectation of future reward. Sexual behavior (or at least the investment needed to procure a partner or sustain one) may compete with time/resources required for other goals, and intelligent people may have more demanding goals."
Wow, I think there is way too much thought put into this subject. To me the truth is quite clear: The more time spent doing other things the lower the GPA. It doesnt matter if the time was spent kissing behind the school or playing football. At least its true with me, I think i am capable of getting A's in school but then i would have to take time away from things I really like doing, Football, working out, reading, and playing the saxaphone. So while everyone is fast to blame it on sex the real problem is that there are only 24 hours in a day and too many things to fill it up. So the question we must ask ourselves is what our priorities are. I myself would rather spend my time playing my sax or playing in a football game than work constantly on homework, and thats okay. (I probably made some teachers mad, Sorry)
ReplyDeleteWhat I find scary is the total lack of nosiness on the part of modern parents. My mother would wait up until I got home from a date and I am sure if I had done something, she would know. Which of course meant I delayed anything until much later. I teach mostly freshmen. They discuss and write notes about things I didn't even hear of until college. And they offer services that would have nailed them as "sluts" in my day, but that seem to boost popularity these days. When we have our start of the year message from the nurse, she always warns us to never touch blood from our students because "they have lots and lots of unprotected sex and some have some very nasty diseases,trust me, I know." And this is in one of the most upscale neighborhoods surrounding Dallas. But then, what do these parents expect when they rent hotel rooms for prom night? And kegs for Sweet Sixteens?
ReplyDelete