There’s an issue that has gotten
more and more attention in recent years that I have developed a keen interest
in, but have not taken as much opportunity as I would like to dig in deeper. As the title of this article implies, I have a
lot of questions, as do many others in a variety of different fields, of what
is happening with boys in this country.
There are a number of things that I see in our school that are not
unusual throughout the nation, and in some places, the problems are far more
pronounced. However, I truly am
concerned about what I am seeing. So,
what is that?
First off, in a CBS Sunday Morning episode not too long
ago, a report was presented that provided evidence of a crisis in
education. There is a large and
increasing achievement gap between boys and girls. That is most evident by college enrollment
where there are currently more girls enrolled in and graduating from college
than boys. On some campuses, it isn’t
even close! Fewer boys are going to
college now than during any other era in the last fifty years. In the 1970’s 57.7% of boys in our country
enrolled in college. Our current rate is
43.5%. That is a huge drop, and one in
an era where there is much more competition on an international level for jobs! And, we are in greater need for highly
skilled workers than any time since the Sputnik era!
To bring it closer to the high school, nationwide, 70% of
valedictorians are girls! When taking a
look at the performance of students at NFV, and prior to that North Fayette, we
see some very similar data. While we do
not recognize valedictorians, we do record student performance in a number of
ways. Digging deeper than just the top
student in the class, here is a look at the top ten students in the class for
the past six years:
·
Class of 2014 3
Boys 7 Girls
·
Class of 2013 2
Boys 8 Girls
·
Class of 2012 4 Boys 6 Girls
·
Class of 2011 3
Boys 7 Girls
·
Class of 2010 5
Boys 5 Girls
·
Class of 2009 6
Boys 4 Girls
Looking at the current senior
class, there are four boys in the top ten, and the possibility that a couple of
more could move in based on their current GPAs.
But even then, boys at even our school are not performing at the same
level academically as girls. The report
referenced in the CBS program, As Gender
Roles Change, Are Men Out of Step,” cites what the authors call an
“anti-intellectualism” movement among boys who believe that it isn’t “cool” to
be smart. We certainly see this at NFVHS
where the priority for a large majority of boys is on sports or other interests
rather than pushing themselves in the classroom. When you think about it, look at all of the
attention that is paid to activity programs and the importance it has with
families. Our data shows that parents
are far more likely to take their child out of school for appointments than to
have them miss a practice or rehearsal.
What does that say about priorities?
This is consistent between males and females, but it is a reflection of
what is important to boys, and certainly, giving up academic time is preferable
to practice time, or their own time, when conflicts occur.
Nationwide, as well as at NFVHS,
boys drop out at a significantly higher rate than girls. The dropout rate for boys is going up
nationally, though we are seeing a decline in our own district. Without marketable skills in a changing
economy, these young men are going to have few choices other than entry-level
jobs, which will make it very difficult for them to provide for a family and
become members of a functioning middle class.
Psychologists express great concern about how men in the future are
going to cope with females who have more skills, more positions of influence,
and better income earning potential.
Some go so far to say that marginalized males will become more violent
toward women and live more dysfunctional lives.
We have seen reported incidents of physical abuse – domestic abuse –
directed toward girls who attend our school by their boyfriends. And certainly, domestic violence is already a
problem in our nation that is receiving a lot of media attention. A question to ask is what successful woman
will be attracted to a man with little or no potential, and if not, what will
happen to those men?
Another trait that is valued in
high schools is leadership. In the time
I have been at NFVHS there has been a noticeable vacuum of student leadership,
and females generally dominate what does exist.
Looking at key leadership positions in the school, one will see girls occupying
most of those positions. While FFA had a
male President last year, the majority of officers were female. That has been the case at NF and NFV for
quite a few years, and it is one of our strongest organizations. Student council is strongly dominated by
girls. And last year, our executive
councils at each grade were made up primarily of females. Of the sixteen executives at the junior and
senior levels, there was one senior boy and one junior boy. Of the twelve positions at the sophomore and
freshman level, there were four 10th graders and two 9th
graders. In our most prestigious club,
which places a high priority on leadership, the National Honor Society, of the
37 members at the conclusion of the 2013-14 school year, 24 or 65% were girls.
Teenage boys have a higher
prevalence of obesity and diagnosis of ADHD than their female
counterparts. Both of these have major
implications for schools in terms of programming and resources.
Is it possible, that with all of
the attention that has been paid in the last twenty or thirty years on
improving education for girls that we have neglected boys? Should we have classrooms, particularly at
the elementary and middle school levels, where boys and girls are separated
because of their different learning needs and the social pressures that
increase as they get older? Is this even
an issue when in spite of all of the advances made by women, they are still
only paid 82-cents to every dollar a man earns, and to this point, politics at
the highest levels are dominated by males?
Maybe the question is how much longer can men maintain this control?
What this all says to me is that
we still have a very strong commitment to the masculine, dominant male role
model. But it would also appear that
each year there are significant gains being made by females. They have taken advantage of affirmative
action programs and do not see barriers that once existed. In our high school, as well as most others in
this country, girls are taking advantage of opportunity and pushing themselves
much harder than boys. Perhaps things
will turn around as so much in life seems to be cyclical, but maybe we are
approaching one of those watermark moments in our society where the shift
becomes much more pronounced. The
election of the nation’s first female President in 2016 may be what most
dramatically signifies that change has come.
