Boys and School

I was talking with a colleague today about the particular challenges many boys face in school. So many boys underperform in school, especially once they enter adolescence. I've seen this firsthand in the mostly white suburban school I attended in the 90's. I've seen it in the two urban public schools i worked in here in NYC serving students of color. And now I see the same pattern to some extent in the unusually diverse Brooklyn charter school where I currently teach.

I'm convinced that it has to do with the passive nature of school as we know it today. Boys just have a bigger problem complying with the demands of a school day that asks them to perform in a passive role so much of the time. Following directions, waiting for permission to speak, answering questions, sitting down quietly, etc.  This is especially difficult as boys work through the identity issues of adolescence.  Is it also hard for girls? Yes. But I don't think the requirements are as diametrically opposed to the demands of their identity formation.

Just one more reason to create a more student centered classroom where kids can make decisions for themselves and become agents of their own learning. It's not easy to do within the current construct of school, but far from impossible either.

This article by William Draves provides some good statistics and information about boys and lists out the theories that have been put forth by others about why boys have underperformed in school over the last 20 years.  He discounts most of them, deciding, like I have, that schools are the problem, not boys or their families.  He gets a little more specific--schools don't provide boys with the skills needed in today's workplace, and the integration of technology is the key to turning around boys' performance in school. 

I don't disagree with him on these points, but I don't think technology is the only way to fix the problem.  In my opinion, the reason technology seems to "work" is that students feel like they have more cntrol over their learning when using technology--and it is probable true.  However, there are many ways we should be exploring to give students more control over their learning.  Improvisational theater is one, for example...

Comments

[Matt]

There aren't enough academic male role models in our boys' school lives. As a father of two boys, it concerns me that they are very unlikely to have a male classroom teacher until 6th or 7th grade. By that time, their self-image as learners has been solidly set.

As one who has focused on "at-risk" populations for over a decade now, I have encountered entirely too many brilliant boys stagnant in remedial environments. When schools can predict in August with near certainty which students will end up with failing grades or significant discipline referrals in May, then it is not the student's fault when the prediction comes true.

Thank you for writing about this.

[Bill Ferriter]

Hey Pal,

You're right: Schools are the problem, not boys.

I learned that in my second year of teaching when a group of my colleagues had the parent of one of our most active boys convinced that he needed to be medicated simply because he couldn't sit still.

The boy was a DREAM in my room - adding to our conversations in ways that challenged his peers and soaking in information that he could apply across domains -- even if he couldn't sit still and blurted answers out randomly.

Drives me nuts when quiet and polite are our priorities instead of bright and enthusiastic.

Rock right on,
Bill -- who is STILL sticking up for the active boys in his class.

[john e]

Hazaa!

It drives me nuts when quiet and polite are our priorities instead of bright and enthusiastic.

Thank you. A little excess, some excitement, a bit of disorder and chaos is great evidence that the kids are engaged. Sleepy orderly kids...well....what good is that?