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Thursday, September 19. 2013

How to Make School Better for Boys


Start by acknowledging that boys are languishing while girls are succeeding:




 Boys in all ethnic groups and social classes are far less likely than their sisters to feel connected to school, to earn good grades, or to have high academic aspirations. A recent working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research documents a remarkable trend among high-achieving students: In the 1980s, nearly the same number of top male and female high school students said they planned to pursue a postgraduate degree (13 percent of boys and 15 percent of girls). By the 2000s, 27 percent of girls expressed that ambition, compared with 16 percent of boys. During the same period, the gap between girls and boys earning mostly A’s nearly doubled—from three to five percentage points.

This gap in education engagement has dire economic consequences for boys.

As I have said before, all boys have some ADD. The best male students have some OCD to compensate.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Education, Our Essays, Psychology, and Dr. Bliss, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 16:28 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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“Nearly half of young men of color age 15 to 24 who graduate from high school will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead.”

Uh, they're all going to end up dead. Maybe the fellow quoted meant murdered?
#1 John on 2013-09-19 19:19 (Reply)
Or he had a short time frame in mind?
#1.1 JKB on 2013-09-20 08:26 (Reply)
Not going to happen, forcing the change in public education. No, women own that from K to PhD now (except for engineering and the hard sciences). There is not a woman alive who will see dollars and changes flow to benefit men.

It will have to come from private schools, boys only. As the charter schools continue to make inroads and increase in number, there will soon be enough choice that women will think that an all-boys school is harmless. And then results will swell their ranks.
#2 John A. Fleming on 2013-09-20 04:12 (Reply)
It doesn't just damage boys economically, it damages girls hopes of finding that good marrying type man. Being a good provider is still a desire of most girls. As Bette Davis said, in hindsight she wouldn't marry a man that couldn't support her.

It is just the way it is. Women still like to stay home once they have kids, learn and do traditional skills (pintrest is big) but
a lot find themselves the major breadwinner in the family. Men's self respect is what they do. Dr. Joyce Brothers said that years ago: #1 for men is work, #1 for women is home.
#3 Becky on 2013-09-20 08:03 (Reply)
"Men's self respect is what they do."

Just take a little time, but, men can get over that.

Happened to me about 20 years ago, big push to abolish my whole organization. I took time to separate myself from my career title as I knew my identity was to wrapped up in it. I was happier, although I probably didn't work as hard after. The latter is probably better for me in the long run. In the end, the career didn't go away, but, my buy-in did.

First rule, never tie your self respect to something someone else can take away from you.
#4 JKB on 2013-09-20 08:25 (Reply)

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