New Experimental Same Sex English I Class at PHS

Story by Jana Hiti
In past decades, there has been the stereotypical classroom with a woman teacher and a class divided between girls and boys.  Times are changing and PHS is changing right along with it.  This year English teacher Janet Newton is teaching an all boys English 1 Class.
  
In the middle of last year, a group of teachers came together to discuss the test scores of Plymouth students.
  
“We noticed that boys test scores were much lower than girls in English,” said Principal Dan Mella.
  
Mella and a group of teachers found that other schools in the area were starting to have same sex classes in their school.  As a result of their finding, they decided to put a plan into action by starting the Boys English 1 class.
  
After the plan was devised, the high school sent letters home telling parents about the new class. The boys had a choice if they wanted to be in the class or not.
  
“We had more than enough boys that wanted to do [the English 1 class], so we had to randomly choose who would be in the class, like a lottery,” said Mella.
  
There will most likely be many benefits from this Boys’ English 1 class. There will be less of a distraction for the boys and they can do the activities and homework that they are assigned to do without a problem. This class is also good because boys tend to demand more attention than girls do. This class will be helpful for them.
  
“The class is a lot of fun. The boys seem to enjoy it,” said Newton.
  
The class learns a few topics that are normally not taught in a regular English class.
  
“A gentleman comes to talk to the class once a week. Their topic has to do with ‘What does it mean to be a man?’” said Newton.
  
Mella claimed that we might have more same sex classes in the future.
  
“If we have positive results, we will plan on doing more same sex classes next year,” said Mella. “If not, we will go back to how it was.”