How education is failing boys
This article is a segment of a larger article
In The Irish Times, author Larissa Nolan makes the following observations :
We hear of “a crisis in masculinity” in schools and about how “failing boys” are not reaching their academic potential.
A gender gap in educational attainment means boys get lower exam results than girls, are more likely to drop out, and are less likely to go to university than their female counterparts.
This year — again — girls outperformed boys in the Leaving and Junior Cert. They sat more higher level papers and got more H1 grades overall. Academic studies show boys are underachieving, in all stages of education, from preschool — where boys lag behind in language and communication — up to college.
In Contemporary Issues In Education Research, authors Barbara Jackson & Ann Hilliard list point out :
Boys receive lower report-card grades.
Boys are far more likely to be grade repeaters.
Boys suffer hyperactivity and stress nine times more frequently than girls.
Boys are identified for special education more.
Boys receive greater behavioral penalties.
Boys comprise 70% of school suspensions.
Boys are three times more likely to become alcohol and drug dependent.
Boys commit suicide two to three times more frequently than girls.
Boys are 80% of high school dropouts.
Boys make up less than 44% of college populations.
Boys, on average, are a year to a year and a half behind girls in reading and writing.
In his paper “How School Are Failing Boys, and What We Can Do About It”, author Peter West lists similar concerns:
Boys are being excluded and suspended from school in disproportionate numbers.
School administrators say that the deputy’s discipline list is 95% boys, sometimes more.
Boys are not volunteering nearly as much as girls do for all the activities that are important in the life of the school: debating, students’ representative council, music and art.
If a boy feels school is a waste of time- then that’s the end of it. The feeling dominates the reality. It is no use headmasters preaching or teachers droning on or parents nagging, if all the boys in his peer group are negative about school.
Suicide rates are too high among young people between 16 and 23. And those who succeed most often are male.
While boys are crowding outside the deputy’s office waiting to be disciplined, girls are filling a large percentage of the academic lists.
Parents have complained about the large number of girls getting rewards- not only for academic results but for participation, citizenship, best effort, most improved and so on.
As possible reasons for boys underperforming in school, West lists the following :
The declining number of male teachers, especially in primary schools , most of all in State schools.
Increasing assessment methods that inadvertentently favour girls (such as ongoing assessment rather than exams)
The move away from factual learning and the increasing tendency for teachers to ask questions starting with “Discuss…”
Poor study habits among many boys.
Boys seem rarely to own books that they enjoy reading
Inability, or reluctance, of fathers to be involved in the lives of boys, sometimes because of separation and divorce.
Boys are given a label which sticks with them throughout their life at school.
Teachers can too often prefer girls, who are generally easier to manage and less confrontational.
Boys are far more likely than girls to go out four or five times a week.
Boys get turned off by one or two teachers. They shut down and it prevents them from learning virtually everything.
Boys want to be active and they want to be outdoors. They don’t want teachers talking at them. Yet trips away from school are difficult for teachers, with forms to be filled out and numerous checks done.