Canada: 'For boys, sugar and spice aren't nice'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It's a well-researched phenomenon: Boys tend to underachieve in school, while a higher proportion of girls successfully make their way to university. (Female students are a now majority in most faculties.) And this might have to do, at least in part, with the fact our schools are made for girls.

Parents of boys have been complaining for a long time about the way their sons are treated within the school system. Most teachers are female and quite naturally they choose books that interest girls. "My son has been fed a regular diet of novels about emotions and relationships, instead of books dealing with sport and action," says a colleague of mine. Boys are expected to behave like girls: They shouldn't yell, they shouldn't jostle, they should sit still in class. Moreover, they should express their emotions verbally, a mode of communication that comes naturally to girls but with which many boys are not at ease. And, of course, in this overly female world, there are too few male role models for boys who don't have one at home.'