forgotten population?

So I'm looking over the Kansas Children's Service League site tonite perusing the photos and descriptions of kids who are needing adoption. I used to work in a boys' home, teaching day school and generally getting a TERRIFIC education about the "system."

What I'm noticing is nearly every single one of the kids cite their favorite classes as PE, Art, Computer, or some other physically active class. A scattered few say math or science. NO ONE says social studies. NO ONE says Language arts.

hmmm...what makes these kids, many of whom have had social stuggles at both home and school gravitate to these more active classes? I realize that some of the kids on the list are there through no fault of their own, due to parent issues. I also know that many still are dealing with struggles--academic or otherwise. Of course I don't know any of these particular kids, but having worked with this population in the past, I'm pretty familiar with the routine.

I'm simply wondering if any one has paused for a moment to look at this population and consider what it would take to get them to begin to at least buy in to some trust and safety at school? Perhaps a more respectful approach to paying attention to their learning styles? Trying to engage them from where they currently are?

Observations of an evening...

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Comment by Christine Southard on July 13, 2007 at 9:11pm: FYI - I loved social studies when I was in middle school because my teacher would often come to school in costume, role playing the people we would learn about that day. This teacher was classic. :)

Comment by Ginger Lewman on July 14, 2007 at 8:24am: I also loved social studies because my mom used to tell me European History stories at bedtime (some left interesting dream-fodder, like the stories about Mary Queen of Scots)! Heck, that's one of the reasons my first degree is in Social Science Education.

Still, I wonder about those kids who don't have decent parental support or stability. Do they need/crave more active learning environments and is this why, in the world of less parental involvement (due to 60-80 hour parent work weeks), that we see kids craving a change for how schools do business?

Maybe I'm off-base, but am just thinking out loud.