Let's Hear It For the Boys

Things seem to be a bit off balanced in the education field, as reports show that boys are doing far worse in school than girls overall. There have been books written and much has been said in the media, yet things continue on as always it seems.

Studies show that boys tend to hold the greater proportion of the D's and F's in most schools, and that they four times more likely to be diagnosed and medicated for ADHD than girls, and they are accredited with 90 percent of the disciplinary problems in schools. Also, out of all of the high school drops outs, boys count for 80 percent of them and less than 45 percent of boys go to college today.

Richard Whitmire is the author of one book on the topic, called Why Boys Fail, and he states that the children these days are forced to use literacy skills at a much earlier age than used to be the case, and boys are slower in developing these skills than girls. So, from the very start, boys are struggling to keep up, and then when writing skills come into play, the boys fall behind even further. This just escalates through the years, causing more and more boys to be turned off by school, leading to them dropping out more frequently.

Another author, Michael Gurian, looks at this issue in his book The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons from Falling Behind in School and in Life adds that males learn more by moving and doing and experimenting, and so the more the emphasis becomes on early reading, the more of a disadvantage it will be for the males.

I will say, in this world that today seems so desirous to force equality on everyone, it is nice to see that studies continue to show that boys and girls are different, that they do have different skill strengths, and that they do require different approaches in things. Hopefully the education system will take these things to heart and change things around soon to help clear up some of these issues.

 

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Education Jobsite blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.