Linda,
I think the answer to your question "Why does no one know what the boys
punishment is?" is that it would be a violation of the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act for a school official to release any information
concerning any specific disciplinary action against a student.
As far as equity and Title IX is concerned, I don't believe there is any
immediate indication of any violation. The general trend is that school
officials are generally more lenient when it comes to misbehavior by girls
than they are when it comes to boys. For example, from the Mid-Atlantic
Equity Center's "Its Your Right" publication (
http://www.maec.org/right.html).
"Research shows that teachers discipline female and male students
differently, even when the offense is the same. For example, two
students
- one male, the other female, are caught not putting away lab totools. The
male is given detention while the female is only reprimanded. We are not
sure why this occurs. Perhaps teachers expect boys to misbehave more than
girls. So the boys get the punishment 'they clearly deserve', while girls
are simply reprimanded for the 'slip' that they make."
This does not imply that it is impossible for there to be discrimination in
the other direction, but past history indicates that it would be the
exception rather than the rule. It would be equivalent to a male student
claiming that he was not provided sufficient athletic opportunities.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Barlow
sabwestvir@aol.com
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