Michael Gurian has some interesting commentary in WaPo about how our education system fails young boys. Here is the take-home lesson:
Beginning in very early grades, the sit-still, read-your-book, raise-your-hand-quietly, don't-learn-by-doing-but-by-taking-notes classroom is a worse fit for more boys than it is for most girls.
I have heard this argument before, and my own family's experience could serve as a nice case study at the elementary school level. Although Gurian claims to notice the effects among college students, I don't perceive much gender difference in law school (at least in terms of grade performance). At this level, the biggest change over the past 15 years is that gender is no longer a diversity factor in admissions.
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1. Posted by ziemer on December 4, 2005 @ 8:32 | Permalink
how could it be?
go to any high school graduation and look at who's graduating in the top 10%, or ask any high school calculus student about the makeup of his or her calc class.
not many boys to be found in either group.
2. Posted by ziemer on December 4, 2005 @ 8:35 | Permalink
i can't believe that has anything to do with sitting up straight and booklearning instead of doing.
20 years ago, boys dominated both groups despite having learned in the same way.
i'm sure there are a number of reasons for current underachievement by boys, but gurian's theory is simply not one of them.
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