There’s a fabulous discussion at Althouse — read the comments — about the different reaction of boys and girls to education, and what educators and administrators can do to help boys. Why don’t boys do as well as girls in school, overall? I lean toward commenter Bonnie’s opinion: Education is mostly controlled by women. It’s not that there’s necessarily a conscious bias against boys, but if there were more men in the system (especially as classroom teachers in the elementary grades) perhaps the system would be more adaptable to the boyishness of boys.
How about scholarships for young men who want to enter elementary education? If it’s o.k. to have scholarships for women in engineering, surely scholarships for men in education — where the gender disparity is much more serious — are a good idea.
Actually, the best way to bring more men into the elementary classroom is probably to increase the number of paths by which people (of either gender) can enter teaching as a second career. The number of hoops that an engineer has to jump through to teach middle-school-level math is ridiculous.
I worry about schooling my own sons. I’ve never been a boy. Already I snap "Sit still!" far too often. Really, who cares if he sits still? It’s not like he’s bothering the other students. Any recommendations on books about helping boys learn as boys?
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