The Trouble With Boys

A few weeks ago, I posted links to articles about raising boys in the Kansas City Star. The Trouble With Boys is a Newsweek article about the same topic. I see this topic emerging more and more in a wide variety of places. Here is one observation from the article.

By almost every benchmark, boys across the nation and in every demographic group are falling behind. In elementary school, boys are two times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with learning disabilities and twice as likely to be placed in special-education classes. High-school boys are losing ground to girls on standardized writing tests. The number of boys who said they didn't like school rose 71 percent between 1980 and 2001, according to a University of Michigan study. Nowhere is the shift more evident than on college campuses. Thirty years ago men represented 58 percent of the undergraduate student body. Now they're a minority at 44 percent. This widening achievement gap, says Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of Education, "has profound implications for the economy, society, families and democracy."

Comments

[Stephanie]

Any thoughts on why this is happening, or were any theories given in the article in the Star? This is actually a hot topic among homeschoolers, also; our homeschooling coop has noticed a huge influx of boys form public schools for this very reason!

[Michael Kruse]

Steph, here is the link to the Kansas City Star article:

http://krusekronicle.typepad.com/kruse_kronicle/2005/12/raising_our_boy_1
.html

I think the assumption is that boys and girls mature differently and are just plain wired differently. Yes, there is considerable variation of behavior within sexes, but boys tend to be a year or two less mature than girls in childhood. Further, boys as a group find it more difficult to sit still and focus on verbal communication for hours on end. Boys tend to need episodes where they get up, move around and bang on each other every now and then. Instead of acknowledging that boys have these differences teachers have tended to structure classes around what the teacher wants and have basically elevated the way girls behave and learn as the standard. Active boys who can't conform are constantly in trouble or given ritilin for being ADD.

I am WAAAY over simplifying here but this seems to touch on the core of what I have been reading.

[Stephanie]

This is exactly what Jeff says as well - his mom held him back from kindergarten for this very reason way back in the 70s. I wonder if we don't need to rethink our entire educational model, though, to reflect ALL the different types of learning, and not just focus on the auditory but also the visual, the kinesthetic and the social learners as well? This subject is close to my heart because even though I have no boys, I have one little girl who is very kinesthetic and the way I teach her has to reflect that. I can't imagine being a teacher in an overcrowded class, though, and trying to figure out how to accomodate the four or five different possible learning styles, day in and day out.
S

[Michael Kruse]

As I recall from the Star series they concluded much the same thing. Boys are disproportionately at a disadvantage in the present system but it is less about boys and girls and more about helping each individual learn how to learn whatever their style.

I think you are right. That is a tall challenge.