Why boys underperform in school

It is also argued that coursework causes a major gender difference in achievement. It should be replaced with final exams and a greater emphasis placed on outdoor adventure in the curriculum. Another reason for the under achievement for boys, is the fact they have behavioural problems compared to girls. They become under the influence more quickly, and tend to follow the crowd. For a boy to sit quietly and get on with work in lessons would be seen as quite girly, so to fit in with the crowd and to be noticed they would tend to speak out, misbehave because they come to school to be noticed.

Get Full Access Now. See related essays. This method involves me choosing every tenth person on the year groups register and when I have found 10 girls and 10 boys I will begin with the interviews. This method is fair and unbiased and will provide me with a broad range of participants. For example boys try to be 'masculine' by showing off and behaving poorly, whereas girls try to be reserved and academic.

The impact of teachers and the hidden curriculum again enforces the stereotypes that are socialised into children from parents in the classroom. Want to read the rest? Sign up to view the whole essay and download the PDF for anytime access on your computer, tablet or smartphone. One is that girls are also affected by families under stress. The other is that the issue of academic underperformance of boys is well documented in two-parent traditional nuclear families where no family stress has occurred.

There are two indicators which suggest this is not the case. Some important data and trends In order to understand the real reason why boys are under-performing in school, it is necessary to understand some important data. They include:. This is a recent phenomenon. It did not occur years ago, when boys were roughly scholastically equal to girls. While girls overall have had better grades, the differences have been much slighter.

In Australia, for example, the differences were marginal until when girls had 0. This difference jumped to There is no performance problem in the workforce. For talented boys who go from secondary school into the workforce, bypassing higher education, there is no performance problem. In a recent article, columnist Bob Weinstein says that boys are succeeding in the workforce, particularly if they have a computer certification.

Technically oriented young men are so much wanted in the workforce today that the United States Congress recently passed legislation allowing up to a half-million technical workers from other countries to work in the United States.

Technically oriented boys are not experiencing either behavioral problems or achievement problems in the workforce. Intelligence is not the problem. There are lots of kids I could have said that about. The stories are endless.

Boys being punished for exploring on computers and getting into school records, which should have been protected by school administrators. When our oldest son was in high school, he was able to take college classes at the nearby university at the same time he was in high school.

Schools, not boys, are the problem Teen crime is down to a 30 year record low. Teen pregnancy is down. School violence is at an all time low. Teen drunken driving is down. Teen employment is up. Teen driving fatalities are down. Television viewing is down. Reading is up. Yet everyone knows boys are behaving poorly. Boys win hands-down on demerits and detention. Worse, boys are now subject to more verbal punishment than ever before. Our schools are failing to help boys learn, and blaming the boys.

The reason there is a war on against boys is that boys are into the Internet and technology. The Internet terrifies most teachers, and some boys know more about the Internet than do many educators. Boys also exhibit those accompanying attributes which go with a future dominated by the Internet, like taking risks, being entrepreneurial, and being individualistic.

On the other hand, what is bad behavior for boys in school is good behavior for young men in the workplace. The very same behaviors for which they are punished in school, boys are rewarded for when they enter the workforce. This is because taking risks, being entrepreneurial, being individualistic are all behaviors that lead to success in the workforce today. The Wisconsin Public Schools, arguably one of the best in the nation, currently has a statewide advertising campaign where it proudly boasts of its ban on hats in school.

By contrast, young men are often allowed to wear hats in the work setting, particularly in technology companies. A recent New Yorker cartoon, for example, has a young worker with a T-shirt and a baseball cap turned backwards telling an older worker dressed in a suit that he will need to change his dress code in order to remain at the company. Schools and teachers fear technology, do not have a sufficient understanding of the Internet, and do not employ the web in their teaching.

Indeed, teachers and schools are usually far behind their own male students in terms of technology. And the situation is further complicated by the fact that schools and teachers often refuse to learn from their technically skilled students, thus furthering the rift and suggesting to boys that school is no longer relevant for their present and future.

Both boys and girls perceive teachers as favoring girls over boys, according to The Metropolitan Life Survey of The American Teacher , When given a computer, however, so-called bad boys immediately turn into good behavior role models. On a recent school day, a LERN staff member observed boys in the computer lab so well behaved that there was no teacher in the room, nor one needed.

Boys are leading the technology revolution, the new economy, the Internet Age, and the workforce of the 21st century. World Show more World. US Show more US. Companies Show more Companies. Markets Show more Markets. Opinion Show more Opinion. Personal Finance Show more Personal Finance. Although coming from a deprived background in this case, measured by eligibility for free school meals can be considered a partial reason for this, there is still a huge difference between how boys and girls within this group prosper.

We can also look at Progress 8, a tool used to measure the progress made by a student between the start and end of secondary school. Girls have a higher score than boys across every ethnicity , between 11 and 16 years old.

The average Progress 8 score for girls is 0. This means that, throughout secondary school, girls have shown to make more progress in their academics than their male peers. As the years pass, we can see how this may almost certainly be the case.

The gap between men and women going into higher education has widened significantly over the last decade: based on UCAS applications in , almost , more women applied to university than men.

Underachieving in school has many long-lasting consequences, with the most serious consequences being for boys who leave school at Those boys who stay in education until 18 and over are often already achieving well and can catch up with girls. Lack of job opportunities due to poor grades can contribute to the cycle of underachievement for future generations.

We have gone through the research and compiled a few strategies that might make a meaningful difference:. However, in many situations, this can be detrimental. Boys who do like reading can feel discouraged and those who are upset may bottle up their emotions. This can have long-lasting negative effects and is often a step on the path to academic failure.

Just take note of it and make the necessary changes.