Boys falling behind girls in education, experts look for solutions

Submitted by anthony on Tue, 2012-02-14 21:32

Article here. Excerpt:

'For the first time in U.S. History a generation of sons will have less education than their fathers while girls are graduating from college in record numbers. Women have also become a majority of the workforce.

Many believe the gap is beginning at a young age. Stereotypes, lack of support programs and education are several of many factors hindering boys' progression, experts say.
...
In the last three decades, hundreds of federal programs and initiatives have been created to help girls continue and finish their education. But no such programs exist for boys, according to Dr. Warren Farrell. He is part of the effort to change that, with the Proposal for a White House Council on Boys to Men. The commission identified five areas of problems at crisis level: education, emotional health, physical health, work and father involvement.

According to Lois Collins, a reporter with the Deseret News who has researched the topic extensively, said that the biggest catalyst to change would be putting fathers back in homes with their sons, giving the in-house role models.'

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Comments

I wrote my term paper for Education Field Experience 200 on this topic. I focused on the effects of the stereotypes placed on male students.

A lot of boys end up falling behind in school simply because they are conditioned to believe that boys are not supposed to be smart, but rather, athletic. This leads to tons of young boys aspiring to be professional athletes instead of doctors, astronauts, scientists, etc. I didn't write this in my paper, but it also leads to all male only scholarships having an athletic requirement. Thus, boys who get these scholarships get distracted from their schoolwork because they have to play on a varsity team.

I suggested that the best way to deal with the problem of boys lagging behind in school is to tackle all stereotypes head on, have books with positive portrayals of both genders, and make it clear to the students that you believe in all of them (boys and girls), and that they are not limited by their physical characteristics in any way. Naturally, a combination of several teaching styles should be used, so that both boys and girls can be reached.

Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!

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Submitted by xtrnl on Wed, 2012-02-15 23:23

@xtrnl I think I remember directing you to a globe and mail series of articles. I'd be interested in reading that paper (personal curiosity, nothing official), if you have it posted somewhere online, otherwise, I could provide you my email.

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Submitted by Kratch on Thu, 2012-02-16 02:37

Sure thing. Drop me a line at xtothat@hotmail.com . I thought about submitting it to aVfM, and I have submitted it to this site, but it wasn't posted. It is understandable though. I have to be honest. I had two days to write this paper, so it might not flow as nicely as it could have.

Thx a lot for the links to the articles, btw. They were great!

Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!

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Submitted by xtrnl on Thu, 2012-02-16 04:23

In my Astronomy class, we have to memorize the spectral classes of stars. It turns out the order is OBAFGKMRNS. My prof suggested using an acronym which began with "Only Boys Advocating Feminism Get Kissed Meaningfully..." I thought of a much better acronym which I'd like to share with you guys.

Only
Boys
Against
Feminism
Get to
Kick ass
Men's
Rights
Now!
Smack!

My gf thought it was pretty funny.

Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!

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Submitted by xtrnl on Thu, 2012-02-16 04:33