How many people have been held back because “boy/girls aren’t (supposed to be) interested in that”? You said (here) that you have been told your natural learning style was more ‘female’ than ‘male’. (I think terms of gender would be more appropriate than of sex.) It’s possible my learning style might be more masculine but I’ve never given it much thought. Presuming there are “masculine” and “feminine” learning styles using a feminine style to teach a masculine girl (or a masculine style to teach a feminine boy) isn’t the best way forward.
You say ‘I’ve never given it much thought’, but actually you have , perhaps unknowingly, as it is just the reverse side of your central argument! It is because dominant learning styles are just that( i.e. ‘dominant’ not ‘exclusive’ to one gender), that we cannot use gender for the basis of punishment. Why? Because if one aim/object of punishment is to teach and reform , it will not do so if the individual is resistant to the message ! That , to a great extent is what differential learning style implies .
