Girls
Federal
Opinion
Canadians Taking a Hard Look at Their Boy Troubles
There's more interest in the gender gaps in Canada (and England, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere) than you find in the United States, despite the fact the gaps are roughly the same. I can't explain why. My only theory is that when the "boy troubles" first surfaced in this country they were seen as a right-wing assault on the gains made by feminists. (The highly influential book, "The War on Boys," by Christina Hoff Sommers blamed feminists for the gender gaps. Consider the book's subtitle: "How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men").
Science
Opinion
Math Skills: Boys and Girls Equal
That's the conclusion of this Berkeley study. That's not surprising. On state tests boys and girls score roughly the same. Actually, the overall trend is that girls are pushing ahead of boys.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Pay Equity: Part 53....
Sometimes I hesitate about blogging on this issue: it has nothing to do with the problem of boys falling behind in school. And yet, the national women's advocacy groups insist it does. Why worry about boys when women are paid less? That argument may be working ... something has to explain why the federal government refuses to even study the school gender gaps.
Science
Opinion
Why Aren't There More Women at the Top?
The argument from feminists is that we shouldn't worry about underachieving boys when the world's elite, especially the risk taking entrepreneurs, are nearly all men. On one level, they're right. Those are the very top, from mathematicians to capitalists, are almost uniformly male. Was Larry Summers right?
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
'Pushback' Movement Fires Back Again
Caryl Rivers offers her skepticism about The Atlantic's piece, The End of Men.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Thoughtful Piece on Admissions Preferences
Charlotte Allen in the Washington Times writing about the investigation into college admissions preferences. I wish I shared her assumption that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is out to discover the actual facts. I still don't understand why the commission didn't select the College of William & Mary. Here's a public university where the director of admissions has openly embraced gender preferences..."We're not called the College of Mary and Mary," he once said. And yet it didn't make the list, in spite of being in the same geographic range of the others on the list.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
'Pushback' Explanation for Gifted Gap
Rosalind C. Barnett and Caryl Rivers, the chief architects for the "pushback movement," those saying boys are doing just fine in school, take on the New York City gifted gap, citing evidence that boys are more likely than girls to be privately tested for gifted programs.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Brace Yourself For a Shock
Not only are little girls dominating the gifted classes in New York City, but grownup girls are dominating the valedictorian rosters. Could one thing be leading to another? Naaaah...probably just a coincidence.
College & Workforce Readiness
Opinion
Graduation Rates: Boys vs. Girls
Education Week's Diploma Count report adds up the most current figures: two-thirds of boys graduate from high school -- a rate that's 7 points lower than the female rate.
Education Funding
Opinion
The Atlantic Weighs in on the Gender Gap
In The End of Men, Hanna Rosin lays out the international case for why parents, societies and businesses are favoring women. Simply put, in a postindustrial society women make a better fit.
Reading & Literacy
Opinion
Hanna Rosin on the Gender Gaps
Writing in New York Magazine, Rosin looks at the gender gaps in light of the recent New York Times piece on girls dominating the early-grades gifted classes in New York City. The answer seems clear: When you push more intensive verbal skills to the early grades, where girls can handle them better than boys, and then measure for "giftedness" using a test heavy on verbal skills .... I mean, should anyone be surprised?
Reading & Literacy
Opinion
Why Are Girls Dominating NYC Gifted Classes?
That's what the New York Times reporter keep asking, but a better question would be: why is anyone bothering to ask the question when the answer is so obvious. The world has become more verbal; boys haven't. Any test relying on verbal skills, especially a test given at that early age, is going to favor girls.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
The Perils of Being an Alpha Girl
Sax's latest book, Girls on the Edge, looks at the downside of the generation of alpha girls emerging. (Sax always makes feel like a complete slacker.)