Description
Book Synopsis Selected as one of the Top 5 Educational Books by Literacy News
The signs and statistics are undeniable: boys are falling behind in school. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the biggest culprits are not video games, pop culture, or female-dominated schools biased toward girls. The real problem is that boys have been thrust into a bewildering new school environment that demands high-level reading and writing skills long before they are capable of handling them.
Lacking the ability to compete, boys fall farther and farther behind. Eventually, the problem gets pushed into college, where close to 60% of the graduates are women. In a time when even cops, construction foremen, and machine operators need post-high school degrees, that’s a problem.
Why Boy
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction to the Paperback Edition 1
1 Discovering the Problem 13
2 The Reason for the Boy Troubles: Faltering Literacy Skills 27
3 The Likely Causes of the Reading Lapses 39
4 The Writing Failures 63
5 The Blame Game: What Gets Blamed (Unfairly) for the Gender Gaps 79
6 Solutions: What Works for Boys? 107
7 Impediments to a Solution: The Ideological Stalemate 135
8 The International Story: Australians Struggle with the Boy Troubles 151
9 Why These Gender Gaps Matter 163
10 Actions That Need to Be Taken 181
Appendix: The Facts About Boys 211
Notes 217
Index 229
About the Author 239
