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Education
Some twenty years ago, the performance of girls and boys
in class was compared. Boys scored better in exams, so various
measures were introduced to improve the performance of girls,
including having single sex girl-only classes. Now, the situation
is reversed, with girls consistently out-performing boys.
So, what has gone wrong with boys, and what can be done about it?
John Dunsford, leader of the association of head teachers of secondary
schools, says that that the academic failure of boys is a problem
which has its roots in society rather than the classroom.
Girls, more than boys, see education as a passport to a good
job. On the other hand, according to Penny Lewis, a head teacher,
young men lack confidence, which they hide with a show of bravado.
They're uncertain about their place in society. Some boys grow up
in families where there is no male role model to follow.
Moreover, boys may learn in a different way to girls, preferring
small amounts of work with immediate deadlines rather than
large projects stretching into the distance. And education is not
seen as 'cool'.
As one contributor to a BBC website put it, "Girls achieve
more at school because they are watching the future while the boys
are watching the girls."
This is not just a problem in Britain. In a study by the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and UNESCO,
girls out-performed boys at reading at the age of 15 in all 45 countries.
The UK ranks ninth out of the 45 countries for reading despite
the fact that pupils in the UK spend less time reading than in most
other countries. Interestingly, the study suggested that British
children read for pleasure more often than those in other
countries.
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