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Boys are Failing? One Former Principal Says “NO”

By Robert Ruder

The cover of the Jan. 30, 2006 issue of Newsweek struck at the very heart of parents with boys across America with its big, bold cover line, “The Boy Crisis.” The effect is dramatic with the line superimposed over the images of four sullen-looking boys. Simply stated, the article says a systemic epidemic of academic underachievement of boys is spreading across the United States like crabgrass encroaching on a well-manicured lawn.

The depiction of  boys in such a light on the cover of Newsweek was a disservice to boys, their parents or guardians, teachers, counselors and administrators. Successes realized by boys were not mentioned. The article does not speak of Jeff Hoppes who as a seventh and eighth grader at the Manheim Township Middle School in Lancaster County, Pa. won the State Geography Bee, breezed through high school, graduated from Princeton Cum Laude and is now a professor of British History at the University of California’s Berkeley Campus. Surely, he is just one boy among many.

Being a former Manheim Township Middle School principal, I found the faces of the boys on the magazine’s cover even more concerning. As if being asked to pose with the soberest of expressions, the faces of the four boys are not those of innocent fourth and fifth grade students. Rather their faces seemed to reflect the pain of being a boy, the misery of being elementary school students and more closely echo the apathy and hopelessness found on the faces of men doing hard time in prison than boys learning math and playing on monkey bars at recess.     

While this assessment may seem a bit strong, the same expressions are found on the faces of the boys whose photos are included in the magazine’s article. There is one exception: a student from the Eagle Academy for Men is smiling as he sits at a table in what appears to be the school’s cafeteria.  

Not all boys are underachievers, yet those who excel academically received scant recognition on the pages of Newsweek. Whether through design or not, the images were startling, especially to those of us who made a career out of teaching boys.

Regardless of  educational opportunities being introduced at every level, if students are unhappy or depressed, learning will be difficult and boys will fall behind. This part of being a boy was not shared in the article, nor were the support systems in place at schools throughout the nation to assist students (boys and girls) who encounter issues related to mental health.

Just as mental health issues cannot be easily dismissed as having a major impact on boys, nor can America’s pop culture. A quick look at some heroes in the realms entertainment and sports whose faces rarely display anything other than a perpetual scowl may well have a significant influence on the emotional and cognitive development of boys. If pop culture icons can realize success without the benefit of outstanding academic achievement, the boys of our country may be lulled into thinking they too can achieve success with a minimum investment of their intellectual energy.

Creating and implementing programs for underachieving boys would be short sighted. There are also girls who are underachievers. Addressing students who fall short of the mark for academic success can be done at school and at home.

The adage used in Newsweek that “boys have always been boys” has perpetuated the myth that has allowed boys to behave in unacceptable ways and realize poor academic achievement for too long. This thinking is passé and needs to be removed from the way we think about boys. Being a boy does not give a boy the right to minimize the value of an education, say unkind or sexual remarks to female students or blow off school. Being a boy is not an excuse for emulating the behavior of pop icons, their dress or their behaviors. 

Being a boy means moving to a higher level of academic achievement, being respectful and taking responsibility. It means searching for appropriate role models and mentors and planning for the future. It means finding the joy in living, smiling and enriching the lives of others. To expect less of boys is selling them, their parents and our educational system short.  

Robert Ruder is a freelance writer and a former principal.

The Raw Data Says Boys Are Improving- But Just Not As Fast As Girls

An analysis by Sara Mead, a senior policy analyst at Education Sector, an independent education think tank, showed that boys, in fact, are doing better and going to college in larger numbers.

“Young men are actually more likely to attend and graduate from college than they were in the 1970s and 1980s,” Mead writes in the report. “The share of men 25 to 29 who hold a bachelor’s degree has also increased, to 22 percent—a rate significantly higher than that for older cohorts of men.”

The report used data from The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is the only way to measure long-term progress in academic achievement among different groups of people.

One thing that is striking about the report is that African-American, Latino, and Special Needs boys are falling behind.

“While the gender gap picture is mixed, the racial gap picture is, unfortunately, clear across a wide range of academic subjects,” the report states. “In addition to disadvantaged and minority boys, there are also reasons to be concerned about the substantial percentage of boys who have been diagnosed with disabilities.”

The report says the gap has less to do with gender and more to do with socioeconomic issues. By and large, it’s not that boys are failing or falling behind, it’s that they’re just not as improving as fast as girls.

“Girls are also more likely than boys to have taken a variety of college-preparatory classes, including geometry, algebra II, chemistry, advanced biology, and foreign languages, although boys are more likely to have taken physics,” Mead writes, “but this is another case where boys are actually improving, just not as fast as girls. The percentages of both boys and girls taking higher-level math and science courses in high school have increased dramatically in the past 20 years. For example, the percentages of both boys and girls taking pre-calculus have more than quadrupled since 1982.”

It gets better—for both genders. Boys actually outscore girls on both sections of the SAT—hardly evidence of a crisis. But, Mead cautions not to misinterpret the data.

“The male advantage on the SAT also appears to contradict the notion of a boy crisis, but it should not really be interpreted that way,” she writes. “Girls’ average SAT scores are lower than those of boys at least in part because more girls than boys take the SAT.”

This is good news. Boys are not in crisis; girls are just improving at a faster pace. But, don’t take this as green flag to let your boy off the hook with his homework, thinking he’ll be okay. The end game should be to make sure both boys and girls are receiving everything they need to succeed. Parents are the first line of defense and the most important part of child’s upbringing, so you have to make sure your boy—or girl—is making the grade this year.