Why Johnny Can't Read: Schools Favor Girls

[Martrae]

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
By Robert Roy Britt


Studies have long shown that boys in the United States and around the world do not read or write as well as girls. There are several reasons, according to the common wisdom:

— Girls mature more quickly.

— Boys are more likely to suffer dyslexia and other reading disorders.

— Race and poverty play a role.

But a new study finds that the problem cuts across socioeconomic lines and pins part of the blame on schools, whose techniques cater to the strengths of girls and leave boys utterly disinterested.

Can't read a newspaper

The research, by psychology professor Judith Kleinfeld at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, finds that nearly one-quarter of high school seniors across the United States who are sons of white, college-educated parents have woeful reading skills, ranking "below basic" on a national standardized test.

"These boys cannot read a newspaper and get the main point," Kleinfeld told LiveScience. "These boys cannot read directions for how to use equipment and follow them."

And the problem is getting worse.

The federal government's 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that 26.3 percent of high school seniors scored below basic in reading skills.

In a finer analysis of that data, Kleinfeld found that 23 percent of white sons of college-educated parents scored below basic, up from 13 percent in 1992. (Among girls with white, college-educated parents, only about 6 percent fall into the below-basic category.)

Kleinfeld presented her results last month at the White House Conference on Helping America's Youth in Indianapolis. She has not yet submitted the findings to a journal for peer review.

Lack of motivation

The problem is partly developmental, Kleinfeld said.

"Girls mature more quickly than boys," she said. "They enter school with bigger vocabularies and better fine motor skills, so it's easier for them to learn to write."

And as boys enter junior high and high school, their motivation wanes.

"Many boys are disengaging from school," Kleinfeld says. "The U.S. Department of Education’s surveys of student commitment show that boys are far less likely than girls to do homework or to come to school with the supplies they need."

In an interview, one boy summed up the problem for Kleinfeld.

He said: "Why would anyone want to read novels? They aren't even true!"

What schools should learn

In separate research that Kleinfeld is also preparing for publication, she has possibly gotten to the root of the problem.

"Here's a fascinating fact," she said. "There is no literacy gap in home-schooled boys and girls."

"Why? In school, teachers emphasize reading literature and talking about character and feelings," she said. "This way of teaching reading does not turn boys on. Boys prefer reading nonfiction, such as history and adventure books. When they are taught at home, parents are more likely to let them follow their interests."

[Lionking]

"Why? In school, teachers emphasize reading literature and talking about character and feelings," she said. "This way of teaching reading does not turn boys on. Boys prefer reading nonfiction, such as history and adventure books. When they are taught at home, parents are more likely to let them follow their interests."

So... you're saying Dylan probably did just fine in public school....

[KaiineTN]

I despised reading in high school. I didn't read much of anything I was supposed to.. I love to read now though, but mostly nonfiction, biographies, self-help, or instructional types of books.. Books on Flash, business, psychology, health/fitness, etc... I can get through hundreds of pages in one night in those kinds of books, yet I struggle with reading a single chapter from a novel. >_<

[Captain Insano]

current school is pussified... It's amazing boys even go anymore.

its like one neverending estrogen induced vagina-fest of PC bullshit and mommying annoying ass teachers.

I fucking hated school towards the end.

Guys should read books about war, ninja tactics and they should be allowed to fight alot instead of being put on ridalin and sent to home-ec social re-engineering camp.

Young men are taught to be homo, terrorist loving, leftist faggots in school. And those who don't fallin line with the femi-nazi teachers get pissed off and stop paying attention.

Its a no shitter.

On a side note somehow when I was 3 I taught myself to read... by 3rd grade I tested at a senior in colleges reading level.

[Arlos]

Some schools are good, some are not so good. Kansas, for example, in the 2nd grade was still working on "See Spot Run". Phoenix, on the other hand, placed you in classes by what level you were performing, so 1st semester in 2nd grade, I had finished the entirety of the 6th grade's reading curriculum, was several years ahead in math, etc.

I was like Ralf, too. I started reading before I was 2, to be honest. I'd read off the names of restaurants my parents took me to, etc. By 4-5, I was reading their copy of unabridged works of Rudyard Kipling, because I'd liked the disney cartoons of Riki-Tiki-Tavi and The Jungle Book that were based on Kipling's stuff.

If more school systems were like the Phoenix school system of the 70s, when I went through it, there'd be MUCH less bitching about education. Kids weren't regimented into age-group classes, they let them do whatever work they were ready for, and offered a broad range of extra classes that you don't normally find in elementary school, like Spanish, etc. Never had to take "home economics" or any such nonsense, and because kids were working on stuff that was new and challenging for them, there was a lot less incidence of discipline problems. Hell, when we moved to Kansas after Phoenix, and I went from super-advanced reading to "See Spot Run", I got labeled a discipline problem, because I was bored stiff.

Anyway, ever since learning to read, I've always been a voracious reader, much like my dad is. I'll read fiction, non-fiction, whatever. Fiction has to be well-written and have a good story for it to interest me, I've never been much of a fan of "High Literature"; stuff like James Joyce, etc. Thomas Hardy (Tess of the D'Erbervilles) in high school so annoyed me I wanted to light the book on fire. I can't imagine NOT reading a lot, really. When I'm not reading books, I'm reading news & science websites.

-Arlos

[Captain Insano]

In all serious, this nation has this ridiculous notion of "no child left behind".


They lump in all these kids and slow down the smart kids, so Daryl the retard, and Sherman the Suberbian Gangster can keep up. What you end up with is a mass of sub par, poorly educated teenagers ready to work the fryer at KFC.

Education needs to be privatized asap.

[Yamori]

In all serious, this nation has this ridiculous notion of "no child left behind".


They lump in all these kids and slow down the smart kids, so Daryl the retard, and Sherman the Suberbian Gangster can keep up. What you end up with is a mass of sub par, poorly educated teenagers ready to work the fryer at KFC.

Education needs to be privatized asap.

I hated being put in the same classroom as "the rabble," it made a shitty education 10 times shittier, el o el

The really intelligent kids end up having their time wasted and being extremely frustrated... and the average kids who could probably be getting the most benefit out of school end up getting screwed because the teachers are struggling just to maintain basic order or are too busy dealing with the slowpokes. ;(

[Yamori]

Also I was reading academic journals and solving college level algebra while I was a fetus in the womb, I got all you goobers beat.