Boys aren't learning to read -- and it's a global problem

Submitted by anthony on Thu, 2010-12-23 15:07

Article here. Excerpt:

'Conventional wisdom holds that boys excel in math and girls in reading. Truth be told, boys excel in neither, according to a report released this month by the Center for Education Policy. The report, which analyzes test results from 40 states, reveals that boys lag well behind girls in literacy skills - while only tying them in math.

That gap is why many colleges are overflowing with women, while guys are becoming scarcer and scarcer on campus.

American boys, we tell ourselves, must be falling victim to anti-academic influences: hip hop, mind-numbing video games and too much time watching SportsCenter.

But the issue is far more complicated. Earlier this month, results of 65-country comparison called the Program for International Student Assessment revealed that girls tie boys in math while soaring ahead of them by an astounding 39 points on reading skills. SportsCenter, last time we checked, has a limited audience in Albania, the country with the largest gender gap in reading.

And that's not even the worst news. In 2000, the last time we had comparable international reading scores, boys were only 32 points behind. In only nine years, boys - around the world - have slipped another seven points further behind girls.'

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Comments

Homeschooling tip to help boys read:

Turn the TV to "closed captioning" and "mute" that way there is no sound, but only text of the dialogue.

Then sit the kids down in front of their favorite show.

I am sure this works for all kids, but I think boys especially pay attention because it has more action (moving pictures) compared to pages in a book and if it is a show they watch regularly they already have an interest in the characters and the storyline.

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Submitted by Kris on Fri, 2010-12-24 02:20

As Kevin Trudue said they took phonics out of of the schools years ago & replaced it with pavlonian conditioning as Charlotte Iserbyte pointed out. I'd recomend her book the dumbing down of America,As John Taylor Gatto points out public schools are desighned not to educate. But indoctrinate,you're rewarded if your're loyal to the state if your'e not. They make sure your'e held back & I think thats the reason why men & boys are getting so much shit. Because the goverment see's men & boys as a potential threat to the goverments power theses people in goverment allot of them are men. And these men don't want any upstarts causing problems!

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Submitted by crypter27 on Fri, 2010-12-24 16:50