Why are boys failing in our schools?

[Makalakumu]

This article caught my interest as a parent of a little boy...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10965522/site/newsweek/?GT1=7538

Jan. 30, 2006 issue - Spend a few minutes on the phone with Danny Frankhuizen and you come away thinking, "What a nice boy." He's thoughtful, articulate, bright. He has a good relationship with his mom, goes to church every Sunday, loves the rock band Phish and spends hours each day practicing his guitar. But once he's inside his large public Salt Lake City high school, everything seems to go wrong. He's 16, but he can't stay organized. He finishes his homework and then can't find it in his backpack. He loses focus in class, and his teachers, with 40 kids to wrangle, aren't much help. "If I miss a concept, they tell me, 'Figure it out yourself'," says Danny. Last year Danny's grades dropped from B's to D's and F's. The sophomore, who once dreamed of Stanford, is pulling his grades up but worries that "I won't even get accepted at community college." His mother, Susie Malcom, a math teacher who is divorced, says it's been wrenching to watch Danny stumble. "I tell myself he's going to make something good out of himself," she says. "But it's hard to see doors close and opportunities fall away."

As a teacher and as a male, I've experienced this alot. I always did well in school and never had many problems...but this seems to be changing.

What's wrong with Danny? By almost every benchmark, boys across the nation and in every demographic group are falling behind. In elementary school, boys are two times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with learning disabilities and twice as likely to be placed in special-education classes. High-school boys are losing ground to girls on standardized writing tests. The number of boys who said they didn't like school rose 71 percent between 1980 and 2001, according to a University of Michigan study. Nowhere is the shift more evident than on college campuses. Thirty years ago men represented 58 percent of the undergraduate student body. Now they're a minority at 44 percent. This widening achievement gap, says Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of Education, "has profound implications for the economy, society, families and democracy."

Why are our boys failing in schools?

 

[michaeledward]

One thought ... is that our teaching techniques are unable to keep up with the students learning abilities.

There is a book out, 'Everything bad is good for you: How today's popular culture is making us smarter'. The premise, on the surface seems ridiculous. Video games and television shows are teaching us to be better able to handle multithreaded tasks.

I heard a lecture by the author one night ... and it seemed to make sense, at least to my tired, old brain.

One chapter compares the television show Dallas to the television show 24. I could follow Dallas; JR & Bobby competing for Jock's love and attention (and occassionally a pretty girl on the set). 24 is way too complicated for me to enjoy; too many characters, too many relationships, too many sub-plots.

The author also addresses the complexity of video games, such as Zelda, where the protaganist must constantly be monitoring short-term, mid-term and long-term goals against the characters and environments experienced in the game.

I don't know if I can buy all of the arguments he puts forth, but, it could be that a slower, paced activity, such as learning about the civil war, can't be matched against the rapid-fire environments around children today.

Of course, why girls don't seem to suffer the same extent of the problem as boys, isn't exlained by this theory.

 

[Andrew Green]

I'd buy that parts of it are. The internet for one, kids got access to everything they could want to know now.

24 vs Dallas might be a good comparison, I never watched either... But I will agree that there is some complex shows and movies.

But when I think "Pop culture" I think Britany, Eminem, celebrity gossip, bad actors that look good... Those things I can't see making people smarter

Anyways High school sucks. It's that middle ground where students are expected to act responsible, but not allowed any responsibility. Teachers are in complete control, how many people where told how to appeal a grade in high school? Or even given the process in filing a complaint against a teacher?

Half the time is spent on "busy" work and the pace is incredibly slow. Free thought is mostly discouraged, or at least it was when I was there. (The not being allowed to use "I think..." in papers pretty clearly summed that up) "your" opinion are graded on how closely they match the teachers.

Not only that, but teachers are bloody hard to get rid of. I don't know aboutdown there, but up here the teachers union is incredibly strong. Firing one, unless there is something criminal, is not an easy task. Eventually the really bad ones get promoted out of the classroom into curriculum development or something else where they are kept out of the class.

 

[Bigshadow]

I wish I had the answer...

My 11yo son is very smart and has always been an A/B student, but this year (5th grade) seems to be very troublesome for him. It seems they are so focused on teaching them how to pass the FCAT tests they aren't really teaching him. They send him home with tons of home work (literally 2 to 3 hours worth)where my wife and I spend a great deal of time "Teaching" him history, science, and math. I guess they are so busy working their FCAT game, there is very little time to really teach in the classroom.

I am not complaining, as I do enjoy working with him at home, but I am very concerned about their strategy. I would home school if I could.

 

[Eternal Beginner]

Hmmm...I wonder if the statistics are the same up here in Canada? It would be an interesting comparison, don't you think? We have basically the same pop culture influences so I would like to see if it is as clear as the article seems to make it. (If anyone has those stats I would really be interested)

That being said, I don't have any idea if Canadian boys are having the same difficulties en masse that their American counterparts are. I have only anecdotal evidence and personal experience with my own son and nephews.

I (and my sister who has male children who have recently graduated high school) have found that if you are in close contact with administration and teachers that we have not had any problems like the ones documented. I don't think any of my son's teachers would dare tell him "figure it out yourself" if they knew they would have to deal with me questioning why they aren't actually instructing my son -which is what they are paid for.

I'm always a little disappointed in parents that blame the media or pop culture for their children's problems. My kids play video games, they watch TV and movies but those are definitely not their primary influence...or even their second or third influence. Myself and my husband, their grandparents, aunts, uncles, church, community are far more central to their mores, ethics and belief system than any anorexic blonde with a sub par voice electronically enhanced beyond recognition or some gun wielding, reckless sex glorifying rapper with pants hanging down to his knees. I sometimes think blaming others is an easy way out for parents who are too timid to actually take a firm line and parent. And if there is a problem in the school system, they should go after the root rather than blaming pop culture.

 

[Shirt Ripper]

It seems they are so focused on teaching them how to pass the FCAT tests they aren't really teaching him.

Yes.

 

[Andrew Green]

I am not complaining, as I do enjoy working with him at home, but I am very concerned about their strategy. I would home school if I could.

Well, there are also a lot of parents that feel school is entirely the teachers responsibility. If the kids aren't getting it it is the teachers fault, students are taught exactly what they need to know to pass the tests, which keeps the parents happy. If one tries to teach kids to be resourceful and work things out for themselves they will get parents telling them to do their job and teach the kids to pass the the test. There are also parents that think quality time with their kids means having them sit on the sidelines while he/she plays their weekly baseball game or I guess since this is a martial arts board, martial arts class...

I occasionally get a student like that, except since mine are all adults and a lot are parents they do the complaining themselves. Expect you to tell them exactly what to do, how to do it and no more. Of course I tend to believe learning how to figure it out yourself is far more important then memorizing step by step instructions, as do my supervisors and the employers we send them to afterwards, I get to win

 

[Bigshadow]

Well, there are also a lot of parents that feel school is entirely the teachers responsibility.

I know, that is unfortunate for the children.

 

[jdinca]

I have three teenage boys. If anybody figures it out, would you please let me know? :idunno:

 

[Bigshadow]

Of course I tend to believe learning how to figure it out yourself is far more important then memorizing step by step instructions.

I agree with that as well. People tend to retain what they work so hard to learn.

However, in today's society, parents do not have the TIME to dedicate to such in-depth instruction in History, Science, Math, Social Studies, etc, that can be achieved in the classroom. So the only alternative is to try and cover bits and pieces through daily life. There are many things we do and see that has a lesson in it. I try to spot these things often (especially if it has piqued his interest) and give him the science behind it. Often it is his questions. If he asks something I don't have the answer to, we go and look it up together and discuss it.

For example, recently my son has been asking alot of questions about the great wall of china and the mongols. He and I talked about it and I explained it's size, the hows and whys of it's creation, and so forth (to the best of my knowledge). Then over this past weekend, either the history channel or National Geographic channel had a whole series of documentaries about Genghis Kahn (sp?) and Kublaih Kahn. They were quite in-depth. I had him watch them with me.

Then there are times (often) it can be information overload, so I have to just give him a taste of it and let it go. They always come back with more questions.

 

[Andrew Green]

However, in today's society, parents do not have the TIME to dedicate to such in-depth instruction in History, Science, Math, Social Studies, etc, that can be achieved in the classroom.

Definately, that is why we have teachers in the first place

Yet, that is not at all what I remember about school, University maybe, but not high school. High school was too standardized, students had no rights, and creativity was mostly frowned on. They told us what to do and how to do it, rather then teaching us how to figure things out for ourself.

Which, by the way, will show less in terms of measurable short term goals for most students. It takes longer to teach someone how to figure something out rather then give them the answer and have them remember it for the test.

 

[Rich Parsons]

One thought ... is that our teaching techniques are unable to keep up with the students learning abilities.

There is a book out, 'Everything bad is good for you: How today's popular culture is making us smarter'. The premise, on the surface seems ridiculous. Video games and television shows are teaching us to be better able to handle multithreaded tasks.

I heard a lecture by the author one night ... and it seemed to make sense, at least to my tired, old brain.

One chapter compares the television show Dallas to the television show 24. I could follow Dallas; JR & Bobby competing for Jock's love and attention (and occassionally a pretty girl on the set). 24 is way too complicated for me to enjoy; too many characters, too many relationships, too many sub-plots.

The author also addresses the complexity of video games, such as Zelda, where the protaganist must constantly be monitoring short-term, mid-term and long-term goals against the characters and environments experienced in the game.

I don't know if I can buy all of the arguments he puts forth, but, it could be that a slower, paced activity, such as learning about the civil war, can't be matched against the rapid-fire environments around children today.

Of course, why girls don't seem to suffer the same extent of the problem as boys, isn't exlained by this theory.

*** Quoting as the subject of multi-thread theory was raised here ***

I can see this theory and agree with it. When I was in school I was bored and got "B's" with some "A's" because it was good enough. I used to study in college in a video arcade, I could read and do my Calc and Chem homework with no problems, and even know when one of the games was in reset, and not in the proper sequence of noises I was hearing.

Video games teach you to pay attention to health, mana/magic, etc, as well as quest ideas or capture the falg, the enemy and also lots of times. SOmetimes special sounds appear to let you know when something new has happened or is available.

So the children of today are processing lots of data and processing it real fast in almost real time scenarios.

Now go to school and the kid has to listen to how the problem is solved, which is the tenth problem solved the same way. (S)He may have already gone ahead and done the rest from being bored and listened. Yet, even in the early 80's in high school for me I would get in trouble and be sent to the principals office for doing homework from another class and taking side notes, or just listening to the instructor. The slow pace is just that slow pace and boring and the child looks for something to do.

Look at the fact that almost all High schools offer some form of Calculus as a math class now for those who can get there. Even if it is AP like. Yet, when I was a high school very few offered, and it was a prestige for the school. Now step back to my parents, and they were lucky to have Algebra II and or Trig in High school as these were college courses.

Now to as why this does not address the girls. I think it does, if you were to take data of those who played the fast paced games, and found out where they were then the relationship might be there. Not all girls play all the shoot and quest games that boys enjoy.

I have a niece, she has had a hard time divorce her mother leaving the house, and her grades dropped, but when I talked to her and asked her, she said the classes were boring and the teachers talked to her like an elementary child. She is now in an adult high school setting which is taught very mush like college, and she is doing much better.

I used to ask people what is hte minimum number of threads/processes/black boards do you have in head at one time? Can you work and type and listen to people or the radio at the same time? I listen to the TV, the radio and work or play on line from home in the evenings. This drives some peopel crazy, but, it seemd normal to me.

Right now a guy on ther side of my cube is talking about work while the guys three cubes down from is talking about dental issues with kids with his wife on the phone. I listening, not because I am being personal but becuase it is there, and I cannot have the music and other interactions going at work. I can concentrate and do one task. Just not as efficient.

Just my thoughts, maybe more later.

 

[Ping898]

Well, there are also a lot of parents that feel school is entirely the teachers responsibility.

One of my problems with teachers is a lot of them I see take care of a problem kids by either ignoring it, writing a note to the parents or sending the kid to the principals office. They aren't willing to take the time and effort to find out what the real problem is.
In my experience when I was in 5th grade that is when you learned to make margins on your page and write inside the margins. I couldn't do that to save my life, all my teachers decided I was just being difficult, never bothered to take a look at me and what the problem might be. It wasn't until the next year that I ran into a good teacher who bothered to take a look at me and saw that maybe there was a problem, had be tested for a learning disability and they found one and were able to help me compensate. The teacher who helped diagnose the problem even started spending time after school with me every week and driving me home when we were done.

Teachers spend more time with some kids than their parents are able to these days and some teachers are very good and will make that extra effort, but I have found those teachers to be few and far between. I know teachers are overworked and underpaid, but you don't go into that profession to become famous and I think they should be willing to make the effort to try and help the kids that are having problems and not just try and push the problems off on someone else....

As for the problem with boys I think half the problem is the teachers and the fact that they are quick to label kids who act outside of whatever the norm is. You would think in this day and age we would recognize that people learn in different ways, and maybe you need to make an extra effort to reach some kids....

I also think we are beginning to come head to head with two different teaching styles, for the last X number of years teachers were just teaching the subject and whatever was in the text book, now most need to teach what is on the state tests, which as far as I am concerned do nothing to really judge someone's knowledge and grasping of a subject, and there is no time left to teach anything else....

 

[Makalakumu]

I think that at a young age, boys are being taught that its not okay to be a boy. Studies have shown that boys tend to be more aggressive and more physically active then girls so when we take these things out of our children's days, we are really hindering their well being and development.

When I was in elementary school, we had three recess periods. This was great because it gave us the time to work off the energy that we accumulated while sitting in class. It also prepared us to sit down again and learn. Today, most elementary kids are getting one recess period...and if the student has earned some sort of label...ie learning disabled, emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, and/or other health impaired, they often have to give up their recess period for extra instruction.

Is this increased instruction time worth it? In the long term, no. Our kids are not succeeding in the long run. However, in the short term, it is successful...when kids need to pass standardized tests. This, I believe, is probably the driving force behind this trend and it will probably ruin a generation of kids before we actually realize the damage it does.

I'm a teacher and I've contemplated home schooling my kids so I can give them what they need developmentally in order to be successful. Our schools, as long as they are driven by outside forces that have no idea what they are doing, are only going to get worse. Top down mandates written by ideologues never work when it comes to education.

 

[Bigshadow]

I think that at a young age, boys are being taught that its not okay to be a boy. Studies have shown that boys tend to be more aggressive and more physically active then girls so when we take these things out of our children's days, we are really hindering their well being and development.

When I was in elementary school, we had three recess periods. This was great because it gave us the time to work off the energy that we accumulated while sitting in class. It also prepared us to sit down again and learn. Today, most elementary kids are getting one recess period...and if the student has earned some sort of label...ie learning disabled, emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, and/or other health impaired, they often have to give up their recess period for extra instruction.

Is this increased instruction time worth it? In the long term, no. Our kids are not succeeding in the long run. However, in the short term, it is successful...when kids need to pass standardized tests. This, I believe, is probably the driving force behind this trend and it will probably ruin a generation of kids before we actually realize the damage it does.

I'm a teacher and I've contemplated home schooling my kids so I can give them what they need developmentally in order to be successful. Our schools, as long as they are driven by outside forces that have no idea what they are doing, are only going to get worse. Top down mandates written by ideologues never work when it comes to education.

I have read studies that say pretty much the same thing. I too would like to able to home school my son. I have been thinking about sending him to a private school, but it makes me cringe to send him to a religous based private school, which seems to be the only kind around here.

 

[sgtmac_46]

One thought ... is that our teaching techniques are unable to keep up with the students learning abilities.

There is a book out, 'Everything bad is good for you: How today's popular culture is making us smarter'. The premise, on the surface seems ridiculous. Video games and television shows are teaching us to be better able to handle multithreaded tasks.

I heard a lecture by the author one night ... and it seemed to make sense, at least to my tired, old brain.

One chapter compares the television show Dallas to the television show 24. I could follow Dallas; JR & Bobby competing for Jock's love and attention (and occassionally a pretty girl on the set). 24 is way too complicated for me to enjoy; too many characters, too many relationships, too many sub-plots.

The author also addresses the complexity of video games, such as Zelda, where the protaganist must constantly be monitoring short-term, mid-term and long-term goals against the characters and environments experienced in the game.

I don't know if I can buy all of the arguments he puts forth, but, it could be that a slower, paced activity, such as learning about the civil war, can't be matched against the rapid-fire environments around children today.

Of course, why girls don't seem to suffer the same extent of the problem as boys, isn't exlained by this theory.

I can buy that argument. As for why girls aren't likely effected as much, that should seem pretty clear. Most girls don't engage in the same kinds of 'rapid-fire environments' as boys. Most girls (with some exceptions) prefer social development games as children. Boys prefer games that extremely stimulating.

Even with video game choices, boys prefer complex games with complex environments. It's been my experience that most of the time girls will pick puzzle games that are challenging but relatively repetative. I've met few girls who have interest in the kinds of expansive environmental games that boys tend to pick. Moreover, even when they are interested, they don't seem to remain interested as long.

A short playing session, then back to social interaction games is the norm for girls. Boys tend to completely immerse themselves for long periods of time.

Boys, it seems, tend to get bored more easily with a slower paced environment.

 

[sgtmac_46]

I think that at a young age, boys are being taught that its not okay to be a boy. Studies have shown that boys tend to be more aggressive and more physically active then girls so when we take these things out of our children's days, we are really hindering their well being and development.

Especially at the lower levels. Girls develop social skills faster, and are, therefore, able to judge what is socially acceptable much easier than boys, who often cross the line of acceptable behavior when younger.

When I was in elementary school, we had three recess periods. This was great because it gave us the time to work off the energy that we accumulated while sitting in class. It also prepared us to sit down again and learn. Today, most elementary kids are getting one recess period...and if the student has earned some sort of label...ie learning disabled, emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, and/or other health impaired, they often have to give up their recess period for extra instruction.

One thing I haven't seen really mentioned, however, is the fact that those teachers who decide to teach elementary school tend to be different than the ones who want to teach highschool. Many of them are younger teachers, the majority are women, and many of them don't know how to deal with raucous young boys.

Is this increased instruction time worth it? In the long term, no. Our kids are not succeeding in the long run. However, in the short term, it is successful...when kids need to pass standardized tests. This, I believe, is probably the driving force behind this trend and it will probably ruin a generation of kids before we actually realize the damage it does.

There is only so much instruction an elementary school child can learn in a short period of time anyway. Yes, i'd say standardized tests are driving much of this issue.

I'm a teacher and I've contemplated home schooling my kids so I can give them what they need developmentally in order to be successful. Our schools, as long as they are driven by outside forces that have no idea what they are doing, are only going to get worse. Top down mandates written by ideologues never work when it comes to education.

Well, up, that's what happens when we demand government do something about 'the problems of education'. I keep telling folks, schools should be run on the local level, but they keep telling me the federal government knows best. I remember a few years back, when the big deal was 'US students fall further behind in standardized tests compared to the rest of the world'. Voters demanded we do something about the 'test gap'. So, what do they do? They do something about increasing test scores.

 

[Bigshadow]

Most girls (with some exceptions) prefer social development games as children. Boys prefer games that extremely stimulating.

It's been my experience that most of the time girls will pick puzzle games that are challenging but relatively repetative. I've met few girls who have interest in the kinds of expansive environmental games that boys tend to pick. Moreover, even when they are interested, they don't seem to remain interested as long.

Boys tend to completely immerse themselves for long periods of time.

Boys, it seems, tend to get bored more easily with a slower paced environment.

Those are great points! I can definitely see that in my own experience.

 

[Bigshadow]

I keep telling folks, schools should be run on the local level, but they keep telling me the federal government knows best.

I definitely agree with that. About the standardized tests. I guess their strategy is... If we cannot teach the students well enough to score well on the test, we will change the test so that they score well.

 

[heretic888]

There is a book out, 'Everything bad is good for you: How today's popular culture is making us smarter'. The premise, on the surface seems ridiculous. Video games and television shows are teaching us to be better able to handle multithreaded tasks.

I heard a lecture by the author one night ... and it seemed to make sense, at least to my tired, old brain.

One chapter compares the television show Dallas to the television show 24. I could follow Dallas; JR & Bobby competing for Jock's love and attention (and occassionally a pretty girl on the set). 24 is way too complicated for me to enjoy; too many characters, too many relationships, too many sub-plots.

The author also addresses the complexity of video games, such as Zelda, where the protaganist must constantly be monitoring short-term, mid-term and long-term goals against the characters and environments experienced in the game.

I don't know if I can buy all of the arguments he puts forth, but, it could be that a slower, paced activity, such as learning about the civil war, can't be matched against the rapid-fire environments around children today.

There is correlational support for the author's claim in the form of the Flynn Effect, the phenomenon whereby average IQ scores in industrialized nations have continued to steadily incline throughout the course of the 20th century. To give but one example, the average IQ scores of today's youth are estimated to be about 20 to 25 points higher than the average IQ scores of the youth of their grandparents' generation. Such a trend seems to have been constant throughout the 1900's in all industrialized nations.

The author also recently published an article specifically about video games and their relation to cognitive abilities, citing much research from neuropsychology and cognitive psychology to support his claims. As a psychology student and a gamer myself, I'm inclined to accept many of his premises. There's a world of difference between Super Mario Brothers and World of Warcraft, after all.

In fact, I'm very hard-pressed to even think of even one of my gamer friends that isn't what most people would consider pretty bright in his field of study. The correlation seems valid, in my opinion.

And, for what it's worth, my almost-24-year-old brain quite enjoys 24 every season it comes out.

Laterz.