DIVIDE BETWEEN BOYS & GIRLS

Data reveals an academic gap between boys and girls, with a learning environment tipped to favor girls. According to Michael Thompson, Ph.D., co-author, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys:

“For the average boy, school is not as good a fit as it is for the average girl. More boys have problems with attention and focus than girls. Because of their higher activity level, boys are likely to get into more trouble than girls. And they are not given enough opportunities to move around — both in actual physical activity and in how they learn — because they spend too much time sitting and not enough time learning by doing, making and building things.”

THE STATS TELL AN ALARMING TALE

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics:

  • Boys are 30 percent more likely than girls to flunk or drop out of school.
  • When it comes to grades and homework, girls outperform boys in elementary, secondary, high school, college, and even graduate school.
  • Boys are four to five times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
  • Women outnumber men in higher education with 56 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 55 percent of graduate degrees going to women.

    According to the U.S. Department of Education:

    • Boys make up two-thirds of the students in special education and are five times more likely to be classified as hyperactive.
    • Boys are far more likely to be suspended or expelled from school, in fact they account for 71 percent of all school suspensions

WE MUST RECONSIDER THE CURRENT LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR BOYS!!!