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In classrooms across the U.S., there is a new
trend that worries educators. In every category and demographic group, boys are
falling behind in school.
Anita Doyle is a learning specialist who works with kids who are having
academic troubles at the private Episcopal High School outside Washington
D.C.
"In this year's freshman class, I met about five girls and about 30 boys
but I have continued to meet with the boys and I don't see any of the
girls. All of the girls have kind of figured out how to
do things and they are on their own. "she says.
Episcopal is an elite private high school that admits students based on
standardized test scores and grades. Students are generally of similar
academic ability.
Yet Anita Doyle still sees dramatic differences in performance between the sexes.
"A 14-year-old girl is academically more mature than a 14-year-old boy.
And I think this makes a huge difference, especially in the
high school years. Because, what you are asking of high schoolers is to
keep track of five or six subjects, plan ahead for their long term
projects, decide what is important to review, to study for tests, to prioritize. And
many boys are not ready to do that task."
Recent scientific research suggests that many of
these differences may be hard-wired in the brain. Boys mature a year or
more later than girls, and are twice as likely to have a learning
disability. They tend to fidget
and lose focus easily. Brain studies suggest they process language and
emotions less efficiently than girls. Boys in the U.S. bring home 70
percent of poor or failing grades and receive the bulk of school
suspensions.
Twenty years ago, it was the girls who had fallen behind, and efforts
to improve their academic performance included hiring more female
teachers, who were sensitive to girls' needs.
That has had an impact on
boys, says Alvaro Devicente, the Headmaster of The Heights School, a private
all-boys school in the Washington area. "I think that in many cases boys are
falling behind because there has been over the last 20 years, a process
of education becoming more feminine," he said. "And I mean that in sort of
a realistic factual sense. Because if you look at the statistics there is
a majority of women teachers and a majority of girls in the
school that everything gets tailored to the girls."
Armed with the latest statistics, many parents are abandoning the idea
of gender equality in schools, acknowledging the differences between the
sexes, and turning to same-sex education. The faculty at The Heights
School is all male and caters to what Devicente says are the special
learning needs of young boys.
"There have been studies, very interesting studies about how boys
hear differently from girls," Devicente notes. "For a boy to really hear the
tone, the volume has to be louder. So that if the teacher is speaking at a
volume that is comfortable for girls, the boy is going to get distracted
because it is like elevator music almost. You start looking around and you
are surely going to find a distraction if you are 12-years-old in a
classroom."
At the Heights school, boys are given four breaks a day. They are
allowed to play tackle football, throw snowballs and vent all of their
pent-up energy. Mr. Devicente says that improves their concentration in
class.
"I think that one thing that may happen in other schools is that the
way that they try to control boys is by thwarting their passion," he says.
"Keeping a lid on them and getting them to do the right thing. And that is
very dangerous because you can't ask a boy to fake it. You have to
redirect his passion, and they are going to be passionate and they should
be passionate."
Ms. Doyle, says it is a character flaw. "First of all,you have got to understand that
the way boys behave is not a character flaw. It is who they are," she says.
"So you have to start with that premise. And then you have to provide a situation
where they can start seeing what they are capable of. "
Most educators agree that a wholesale change of teaching practices in
schools runs the risk of doing more harm than good. But many believe
accepting that differences do exist between the sexes is a starting point
for realizing the full potential of every student. | 
