Boys and our educational system

[FarrahWaters]

I read an article today in a local magazine about how our educational system is failing our boys. The article isn't available online, but this website sums up the main points. http://www.boysproject.net/

The article states that our educational system today is basically geared towards educating girls. Boys are not hardwired to sit still, listen quietly, and absorb material from reading. They learn better when physically involved, when their brains are given frequent rests, and through spatial-mechanical stimulation. The loss of P.E. and recess is also cited as a huge detriment to boys.

Some stats from the article:

Boys are an average of a year to a year and a half behind girls in reading and writing skills.

Men make up less than 44 percent of the college population.

Boys get the majority of D's and F's in school.

80 percent of high school dropouts are boys.

80 percent of children diagnosed with behavioral disorders are boys.

What do you guys think? Those with school-aged boys, do you notice this problem? Or do you think the article is overstating the case?

[il Padrino Ute]

Affirmative Action and Title IX are to blame. (Kind of TIC here, but I beleive there is a lot of truth to it.)


I have two boys - one in 6th grade and one in 3rd grade. Both score in the higher percentile ranges in testing, though the 3rd grader consistently scores higher. Both read well above their grade levels and do math above their levels as well. I don't claim that they get their intelligence from me, but my Mom was a 2nd grade teacher for 40 years and because we live close to my parents, my kids have had a chance to visit them often. Going to my parents house is like going to school. She has all kind of things that are educational and my kids love to sit down with Grandma and learn. They've greatly benefitted from it.

I do agree that boys are unable to sit as still as girls. My are boys are very active and restless, while their sisters (even the 4 year old) are able to sit still for longer periods of time.

Here in our school district, we still have recess, but if it were to be eliminated, my boys would go nuts and therefore drive their teachers nuts as well.

[Venkman]

Yes, I believe the feminists running academia want to feminize our culture and our boys. Hopefully, the pendulum start swinging the other way, because the majority of Americans are all for little boys acting like little boys.

[MikeWaters]

no recess? no wonder all the kids are fat and useless.

recess was the highlight of the day for me.

[Sleeping in EQ]

There might be something to this. I have no idea what all is involved, but my experience suggests that this view is worth serious research (and maybe such research has already been conducted). I think attributing these problems to "feminists" is dubious, but the over-representation of female teachers may play a role.

I think the General Primary Presidency might benefit from giving this a think as well.

[Detroitdad]

First it was girls, that were being failed, now it is boys. And the sex educated crises are only a few years apart. Someone is always in danger. Now I don't have all the statistics at my disposal, but I can tell you that I have read that while girls start off with a big gap in reading, writing, and even math, the boys catch up in junior high and high school. Boys may take a little while to catch up.

As far as school being somehow different now, if anything I would say that the only real perceptible difference is the lack of recess. However, contrary to Venkman I do not think that this is a feminst conjured plot to feminize. This is a politicialn centered plot that is about accountability- for little children from ages 6 and up! Politicians and schoolboards, under pressure to improve scores push for more instructional time, since all time not spent in instruction is wasted. This is not reflected in the academic research, but who has time for touchy feely academic research, with an educational crisis on our hands?

But, I digress. In short boys are the new victim group. There may be some deficiencies in the way that they are educated, but surely it is not a new thing. It may be that girls are better, more responsible students, in general than boys. I know that has been true, lo these many years that I have been in school, and that has been true on every level.

[UtahDan]

Originally Posted by FarrahWaters

I read an article today in a local magazine about how our educational system is failing our boys. The article isn't available online, but this website sums up the main points. http://www.boysproject.net/

The article states that our educational system today is basically geared towards educating girls. Boys are not hardwired to sit still, listen quietly, and absorb material from reading. They learn better when physically involved, when their brains are given frequent rests, and through spatial-mechanical stimulation. The loss of P.E. and recess is also cited as a huge detriment to boys.

Some stats from the article:

Boys are an average of a year to a year and a half behind girls in reading and writing skills.

Men make up less than 44 percent of the college population.

Boys get the majority of D's and F's in school.

80 percent of high school dropouts are boys.

80 percent of children diagnosed with behavioral disorders are boys.

What do you guys think? Those with school-aged boys, do you notice this problem? Or do you think the article is overstating the case?

The most important statistic not stated is what many of these boys who we fail grow up to do. They grow up to be my criminal clients. I'm perfectly serious about this.

The overwhelming majority of criminal acts are committed by poor men. Of that group minorities are over-represented to a huge degree. My anecdotal experience is that the lions share of crimes committed fit into three categories that middle to upper class people much more rarely find themselves in: (1) self medicators who do drugs, drive drunk etc , (2) those who commit crime for economic purposes such as sell drugs, steal, rob, forge, etc. and (3) those who commit domestic violence (quite a bit of cross over with 1).

Recall that many of these failed boys also go around fathering children who they then do not support, and it is a wonder that we are not more focused on what we are doing wrong with our boys.

Where feminism hurts boys is in that most teachers are liberal women who don't have it on their radar screen, or don't care much in the same way that many minorities see reverse rascism as okay because it somehow balances things out.

I for one think that seperate boys and girls schools make a lot of sense because you can't treat little boys and little girls the same. The counter argument is that the girls schools historically got short shrift. I don;t personally see much threat of that in the modern era.

Bottom line is that it is an issue that more light need to be shed on. Mens issues get very little spot light. Another good example is that we spend a huge amount of time and energy on breast cancer and there is nothing wrong with that; we should. But when is the last time you heard anything about prostate cancer? It is actually more common.

[Archaea]

Education of our young is vital to perpetuating our culture and economic advantages.

If anybody as a group gets left behind without our best efforts, that lost generation will become a burden upon us.

It is fascinating that gender based breast cancers favor women to men overwhelmingly.

I saw a commercial that talked about a woman whose friend got checked for breast cancer regularly but died of heart disease.