Young American male students are falling behind

A survey by the Southern Regional Education Board in the U.S. reveals disturbingly different attitudes about education among 40,000 male and female students. The teens polled are typical, not stars or low performers. They score at the national average on federal maths and verbal tests. Among their classmates, they most likely are headed to the workforce, two-year colleges, technical training programmes or less-competitive four-year colleges.

According to the survey of students in 1,000 high schools in 26 states:

84 percent of girls said it was important to continue their education beyond high school, only 67 percent of boys agreed.

70 percent of the "average" girls thought it was useful to do well in school to achieve life goals; only 57 percent of the boys felt the same.

In the words of veteran Atlanta educator Gene Bottoms, who conducted the survey, high schools are "losing" many average boys.

Girls have long been better students than boys in the early grades. Traditionally, boys have caught up with girls – and even surpassed them in maths and science courses starting in 10th or 11th grades. But the survey by the Southern Regional Education Board confirms that because many average boys aren't joining these late bloomers, they're falling behind, says USA Today.

Source: Editorial, Boys' academic slide calls for accelerated attention, USA Today, December 22, 2003.

For text
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-12-22-our-view_x.htm
For more on Education http://www.ncpa.org/iss/edu/

RSA Note A possible interpretation of the finding in the above mentioned survey is that conventional education is at the crossroads. Students are questioning its value. What now needs to come under the spotlight is the education system – why it continues to grind on in the same way it has for the past two centuries and why students and their parents, as consumers, do not have total control over the process.
Eustace Davie, Director, FMF.

FMF Policy Bulletins/ 30 December 2003