Equity & Diversity Blog

Why Boys Fail

This blog was written by Richard Whitmire, a former editorial writer at USA Today and past board president of the National Education Writers Association, and a frequent opinion commentator on national education issues. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: boys.

Education Opinion Clark County (Nev.) Graduation Problems
The graduation rates are terrible, in part because of the gender gaps in graduation:
Richard Whitmire, June 11, 2011
•
1 min read
Student Achievement Opinion It's (female) Valedictorian Season
From Tampa.
Richard Whitmire, June 11, 2011
•
1 min read
Education Opinion Promoting 'Self-Regulation' in the Classroom
Dan Willingham doesn't single out boys in this piece, but that's probably not necessary. We know who needs the most "self regulation" in the classroom.
Richard Whitmire, June 10, 2011
•
1 min read
Education Opinion Sec. Duncan Promotes Fathers in Schools
Arne Duncan schedules a visit to a charter school in D.C. and praises Watch D.O.G.S., a program to encourage fathers to volunteer at schools.
Richard Whitmire, June 10, 2011
•
1 min read
Equity & Diversity Opinion 'Manliness Under Assault'
Hollywood expands on an existing theme: men are wimps, at least compared to the more successful and assertive women surrounding them. WSJ does a nice sum-up:
Richard Whitmire, June 10, 2011
•
1 min read
Education Funding Opinion Challenging the 'Mancession'
Now, women are taking more of a hit, argues this writer.
Richard Whitmire, June 10, 2011
•
1 min read
Federal Opinion British Boys: Gender Gap Widening
Interestingly, math seems to be the issue.
Richard Whitmire, June 9, 2011
•
1 min read
Special Education Opinion Autism and the Environment
Interesting discussion of pollutants as possible triggers. As for the gender differences, with four times as many boys as girls suffering from autism, we've always known that male infants are far more vulnerable.
Richard Whitmire, June 9, 2011
•
1 min read
School Choice & Charters Opinion More (Anecdotal) Evidence that Single-Sex Works Better for Girls?
This time from Montreal.
Richard Whitmire, June 8, 2011
•
1 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion What's Post-Secondary Education
The 'debate' over whether all students need a four-year degree seems somewhat pointless. Of course they don't. But given the number of jobs that will require post-secondary work, it seems clear that high schools are not doing a good job preparing students for that reality. At some community colleges the remediation rate rises as high as 80 percent.
Richard Whitmire, June 8, 2011
•
1 min read
School & District Management Opinion Want to Contribute to a University Chair on Male Studies?
The Foundation for Male Studies has a plan:
Richard Whitmire, June 7, 2011
•
1 min read
School Choice & Charters Opinion Philly Boys Latin Graduation Draws Governor and Mayor
Sounds like an interesting school, with 96 percent of the graduating seniors headed to college, most of them four-year colleges. Stories like this, however, rarely get into the important qualifiers: How representative of the neighborhoods was the original class of ninth graders and how many of those ninth graders dropped out before the senior year?
Richard Whitmire, June 7, 2011
•
1 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion U.S. Business: Reorient Community College toward Jobs
This could increase the appeal to men.
Richard Whitmire, June 6, 2011
•
1 min read
School Choice & Charters Opinion Single-Sex Helps Girls More Than Boys?
Readers of this blog know that I've been collecting anecdotal reports suggesting that's the case. Here's some research indicating I might be right.
Richard Whitmire, June 6, 2011
•
1 min read
Load More ▼