Senior: School discriminates against boys
MILTON, Mass. --A senior boy at Milton High School has filed a federal civil rights complaint contending that his school discriminates against boys by making it easier for girls to succeed academically.
Doug Anglin, in his complaint filed last month with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, claimed girls faced fewer restrictions from teachers and boys are more likely to get punished.
"The system is designed to the disadvantage of males," Anglin, 17, told The Boston Globe. "From the elementary level, they establish a philosophy that if you sit down, follow orders, and listen to what they say, you'll do well and get good grades. Men naturally rebel against this."
Girls outnumber boys almost 2 to 1 on the Milton High honor roll, and almost 60 percent of the students in Advanced Placement classes are female, according to information provided by school officials.
Anglin, who plays soccer and baseball and plans on going to college, hopes the Education Department will react to his complaint by coming up with national guidelines on how to boost the academic achievement of boys.
Teachers must change their attitudes toward boys and look past their poor work habits to find ways to encourage them academically, said Anglin, whose complaint was written by his lawyer father. Too many boys give up too soon, he said.
He has his own ideas on how Milton High can help boys, but school officials say they are unlikely to adopt his suggestions.
Anglin wants Milton High to give credit for playing sports, as it does for art and drama; allow students to take classes on a pass/fail basis so more students will take advanced course without risking their grade point average; and do away with the school's community service requirement, which he says is resisted by many boys.
Superintendent Magdalene Giffune said the community service requirement is "an important part of teaching students to be responsible citizens," and she will not consider dropping it.
But while school officials deny that girls get better treatment than boys, some of Anglin's fellow students, including some girls, see his point of view.
Kelli Little, a senior and student body president, said there is just one boy in her 22-member honors Spanish class, and that while she rarely gets asked to produce a hall pass if she is not in class, boys walking close behind her are routinely questioned.
She said that one teacher at the school expects students to type class notes and decorate their notebooks.
"You can't expect a boy to buy pink paper and frills to decorate their notebook," she said.
According to a 2005 report by the Educational Equity Center of the Academy for
The Education Department is evaluating whether Anglin's complaint has merit, spokesman Jim Bradshaw said.
"I'm not here to try to lower the rights of women or interfere with the rights of minorities," Anglin said. "We just want to fix this one problem that we think is a big deal."
