New tools to help male students excel at school
February 13th, 2006There has been a lot of talk lately about the growing crisis of education for male students. According to a University of Michigan study, the number of boys who said they didn’t like school rose 71 percent between 1980 and 2001. This discontent with education has spilled onto college campuses where male students are only 44 percent of the college population, down from 58 percent thirty years ago.
Newsweek ran a story highlighting the problem in its Jan. 30, 2006 issue. While the story introduced some to the challenges of educating boys, it only reiterated what many high school counselors, administrators and teachers already know to be true. And it has caused many to take action.
“Helping underperforming boys has become our core mission,” said Gates Foundation Education Director, Jim Shelton.
There are many theories as to why boys are now under-performing in school after many decades of dominating. Some attribute the problem to a classroom hostile to inherent boy behavior while others blame it on a feminists movement that championed the needs of girls while ignoring the needs of boys.
If unchecked, the problems facing boys in the education system will only get worse. Already, the gender balance at many state universities has tilted 60-40 in favor of women.
“Primary and secondary schools are going to have to make some major changes,” says Ange Peterson, president-elect of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, “to restore the gender balance. There’s a whole group of men we’re losing in education completely.”
Resources to help you address the challenges of educating boys at your high school.
Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys
Real Boys : Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood
The Minds of Boys : Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life
