Why Boys Fail: Saving Our Sons from an Educational System That's Leaving Them Behind

If you've ever wondered why your son has struggled in school this is a must read. My son suffered a great deal during his elementary school years because he is "gifted". I was told he had ADHD at the end of his Kindergarten year. Had it not been for his daycare providers, some with only a high school education, and some who hadn't finished high school, I'd have had him at the physician the next day! I was sobbing when I dropped him off after school that day and they began to laugh, LAUGH! YOUR SON? ADHD? They pointed to a little boy in the corner who I knew only in passing and told me to stand there and observe him for five minutes. After the time had passed, the director turned to me and said, YOUR son is not ADHD, THAT child is! I could see the difference immediately. I did subsequently have my son tested by a knowledgeable pediatrician who concurred with the daycare providers' assessment. But this is the problem. Schools are ill-equipped to deal with active inquisitive boys. Girls are, regrettably, taught from a very early age to "behave" and funneled into "girlish" activities that are less likely to create problems for teachers. Not so with boys. The book will outrage you because five minutes into it, you'll be nodding your head realizing how unprepared, ill-equipped, and uncreative our elementary schools are in teaching children (I think the same could be said for girls as well). We fail our children academically and that is the bottom line, but sadly it is the boys who suffer most. Mine have prospered because of intelligent and gifted teachers early on, a knowledgeable pediatrician who the boys have had for their entire lives, and in our case enough opportunities to keep them engaged and that challenge them to excel. Rare occurrences for many children. Read the book, it will either open your eyes, or provide further verification of what you already knew. It will also provide you with suggestions on how to deal with some of the common issues that arise for our sons!

As both an education policy professional and a parent of a young boy who will soon enter kindergarten, this was a good overview on an important and neglected topic. Anyone interested in closing the gap between ethnicities or socio-economic classes needs to be aware that a great deal of that gap is explained by gender. Whitmire does a great job convincing readers that the "boy problem" is real. He also offers a fairly lengthy list of suggestions, including a federal inquiry to gather real data on the gender gap, more and better early literacy instruction for boys, continued literacy education in middle and high school, high quality and intensive tutoring programs, and more relevant vocational education. I'm not convinced that will fix the problem, but it seems like as good a place to start as any.I consider myself a staunch feminist, and Whitmire did a really good job of gently calling out feminists for ignoring this problem, while never coming off as anti-woman. He argues convincingly that this is more than just girls catching up -- boys actually are failing. He makes a strong point that when so many of our boys are faring poorly, that's a problem for everyone.Also, Whitmire raises the issue of the dwindling pool of "marriageable" men who would make acceptable partners for educated women. This is a well-established issue that now affects all ethnicities, and there have been a lot of interesting studies on "fragile families". The best take on this issue that I've ever seen is "Promises I Can Keep," a study of low-income single mothers.One minor quibble -- Whitmire acknowledges the continuing pay disparity between men and women and admits that he's at a loss to explain it. Several recent studies have offered credible evidence that the salary gap doesn't occur between men and women, but rather between mothers and non-mothers. In other words, an urban, educated young woman is likely to earn a similar salary as her male counterpart -- the gap comes into play after that woman becomes a mother. Parenthood imposes a salary penalty on women, but not men. Future editions of the book might do well to incorporate that research.

This thoughtful research explores the overwhelming evidence that public schools are failing boys at every economic level, and what should be done. Rather than chastise the girls for their success, it suggest that boys need to adapt to the more verbal and technically organized world that exists. Boys will not succeed academically unless they learn to read and write in elementary school. Unfortunately when they fall behind the girls it becomes and emotional crutch they identify with as a boy group.This problem is not unique to American society, but is perhaps universal to how boys and girls learn. Society will need to think through how to best include boys in the thrill of academic excellence, which may need specific attention to problems common to boys. Being inattentive, active, and emotional is not treated as a disability by this author. Will we need to settle this with gender specific education? If so how extreme should that division be? Will boys and girls need to be forever separated by different schools?I hope more tolerance for boyhood could reduce disability, medication and the host of illnesses that are mostly associated with boys. As important as reading and writing are to survival, the fact that we are so desperate for good scores that we blame failure on the kids, hurts boys and girls.

excellent reading, examines all the possible reasons why boys are not doing well in school and what can be done to put them back at the forefront of success.

I recommend this book to anyone in the education world. You need to read this to help our sons.. please

仕事の関係で、男の子に適した教育方法が知りたくて購入しました。アメリカでは、人種と成績の関係が問題になる一方、性別との関係はあまり注目されません。ところが実は、女子生徒に比べて男子生徒の成績、高校や大学への進学率が低く、反対に男子生徒の学習障害、ドロップアウトの率が高くなっており、それが結局は女性の結婚難につながるまでの状況になっているとのことです（高学歴女性が自分にふさわしいと考えるような男性が不足しているため）。本書は、そういった深刻な状況を文献研究、調査に基づいた数字を挙げて説明し、性別を意識した教育を実践して成功している例（特にオーストラリア）を挙げています。非常に明快に書かれているのですが、最終章の対応策の部分が、もう少し教室で実践できることについて具体的に書いてあると助かったと思います。とはいえ、男女別学の学校の先生（特に男子が多い学校）、教育行政に携わる方にはぜひ読んでいただきたい本だと思います。