“We all have this mental ‘man box’ full of ideas of what a man is: don’t show emotion, don’t ever cry, it’s OK to beat somebody up — but we’re learning to move away from that.” Zhakor Young Grade 5 student

They get gym more often than most co-ed classes, can move around more while they work and the 48 young gentlemen in Toronto’s first all-boy public school program are even learning yoga, like some of their NBA heroes.

Their reading corner reflects a male sensibility: Race Car Drivers — Start Your Engines!, How Strong is It? A Book about Strength, and Wonders of the Spider World.

Here at the Toronto District School Board’s Boys’ Leadership Academy in Rexdale, Grade 4 to 6 boys and their male teachers talk a lot about what it means to be a man, busting the macho stereotype through posters, plays and pasta-cooking lessons.

“We all have this mental ‘man box’ full of ideas of what a man is: don’t show emotion, don’t ever cry, it’s OK to beat somebody up — but we’re learning to move away from that,” said Zhakor Young, a Grade 5 student in this program tucked on the top floor of Elms Junior Middle School near Albion Rd. and Finch Ave. W.

“When someone cries it actually shows they have emotions,” added Zhakor, 11, “and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

But what they like most is the freedom from sharp female tongues.

“I wasn’t fond of being in a mixed class,” confessed Grade 6 student Siraj Raja. “You don’t want to say anything wrong because the girls might make fun of you, but then if you get too many answers right they might make fun of you too.”

Ditto, said Grade 5 student Abdi Mohamoud. “If you put up your hand and you’re wrong, the girls laugh and call you dumb.”

Or they’re “distracting” with their chatter, added Mohamed Adam, 11. “If there were girls here, there wouldn’t be as much collaboration on work — there’s too much gossip.”

Research suggests boys need to move around more often than girls, have shorter attention spans and want more say in how the class runs, rather than following someone else’s instructions, said Grade 4/5 teacher Ahmed Omar, who found many of the boys proved to be “kinesthetic” (physical) learners on a survey last fall. He breaks up his lessons into chunks of no more than about 15 minutes.

“If I stood at the front and talked, most of it would go right past them. I have to sit down with them and ask, ‘What do you think of this?’ They have to have the opportunity to engage with each other.”

He also stresses collaboration as part of leadership.

“Everyone can be a leader but they take a different role. I want them to understand leaders aren’t just the people who say, ‘This is how it’s going to happen.’ In real life, a good leader will encourage other people to succeed.”

They spend time talking about what it means to be male, said program chair Donald Putnam.

“Boys are very aware from a young age that they’re different, but they’re bombarded by false stereotypes; the over-sexualization of females and macho-ization of males and if they don’t discuss these with someone, there can be confusion about roles,” Putnam said. “So we ask the students, what do you accomplish by being physical? You can still be a man by walking away. You can still be a man if you like gymnastics — so does (Ultimate Fighting Championship) star George St. Pierre.”

The boys also learned they could still be a man if they like poetry, he added. They studied the lyrics of “Dear Mama” by late rapper Tupac Shakur — the song includes the line “you are appreciated” — “to show them it’s OK to express gratitude.”

Grade 6 teacher Philip Maithi co-hosted a pancake breakfast last fall and some of the boys were surprised.

“They said, ‘Oh, a man can cook?’ We said, ‘Sure, men can cook,’ but we have to model for them.”

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Omar’s students wrote essays about violence against women, tackling such questions as: What is your role as a male? Why should we care? What are you doing to contribute? “We’re trying to build leaders in society,” he said.

Maithi’s students drew posters about what it means to be a man, including “Being good to your country makes you a man.” “Having a brain makes you smart and that makes you a man.”

Mainstream media, especially music videos, bombards boys with images that don’t show glorify being smart or good in school, said Maithi. “It’s more a gangster image and we’re trying to fight that.

“There’s been a lot of work around having girls realize beauty is natural . . . We’re trying to create that same message with boys.”