Why Boys Fail: Saving Our Sons from an Educational System That's Leaving Them Behind

Why Boys Fail: Saving Our Sons from an Educational System That's Leaving Them Behind

Why Boys Fail is a sweeping survey of one of the most misunderstood and sometimes totally ignored problems of our day - the precipitous slide in boys' academic achievement, which cuts across racial and economic divides and affects boys around the English-speaking world. Richard Whitmire draws on extensive journalistic skill and experience to pick apart the prevailing theories of what is causing boys to fail - feminized classrooms, toxic boy cultures, mind-numbing video games - and shows how each contributes to the problem but fails to wholly explain it. Instead, the author reverses course from the usual finger-pointing to uncover what is actually working in schools to bring boys up to speed, and draws his conclusions from there. The answer is simple yet monumental: the world has become increasingly verbal, but boys have not. From heightened kindergarten reading expectations to language-dense math problems, many boys lack the reading and writing skills needed to keep pace. Their lagging literacy skills snowball through the school years and ultimately derail ambitions and prospects. Why Boys Fail is not simply a depressing assessment of the fate of our nation's boys; it also offers suggestions for what works. Packed with inspiring case studies of schools that have successfully implemented programs for improving literacy - such as intensive phonics instruction and ongoing reading instruction in the middle years - this extensively researched, persuasive book is a must-read for parents and educators alike. Parents and educators have seen it for years: elementary schools swarming with fidgety boys who hold their pencils funny. But what they don’t see is that in recent years, the lackluster performance of boys often fails to improve with maturity. Boys are in trouble. However you slice the numbers—fifth-graders in special ed, ninth-graders held back, low senior grade point averages, high school dropouts, fewer college graduates—boys are performing far below girls. And they’re performing far below the expectations of today’s marketplace, where more and more jobs require college degrees. Why Boys Fail is a sweeping survey of one of the most misunderstood and sometimes totally ignored problems of our day—the precipitous slide in boys’ academic achievement, which cuts across racial and economic divides and affects boys around the English-speaking world. Richard Whitmire draws on extensive journalistic skill and experience to pick apart the prevailing theories of what is causing boys to fail—feminized classrooms, toxic boy cultures, mind-numbing video games—and shows how each contributes to the problem but fails to wholly explain it. Instead, the author reverses course from the usual finger-pointing to uncover what is actually working in schools to bring boys up to speed, and draws his conclusions from there. The answer is simple yet monumental: the world has become increasingly verbal, but boys have not. From heightened kindergarten reading expectations to language-dense math problems, many boys lack the reading and writing skills needed to keep pace. Their lagging literacy skills snowball through the school years and ultimately derail ambitions and prospects. Why Boys Fail is not simply a depressing assessment of the fate of our nation’s boys; it also offers suggestions for what works. Packed with inspiring case studies of schools that have successfully implemented programs for improving literacy—such as intensive phonics instruction and ongoing reading instruction in the middle years—this extensively researched, persuasive book is a must-read for parents and educators alike. It opens your eyes to the magnitude of boys’ academic underachievement and uncovers effective solutions to countering this deeply troubling and widely misunderstood problem. Richard Whitmire is a former editorial writer for USA Today who served two years as President of the National Educational Writers Association. A highly recognized and respected education reporter, his commentaries have been published in the New Republic , U.S. News , Politico , Washington Monthly , Chronicle of Higher Education , and Education Week . He also appeared on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition to discuss boy troubles. He lives in Arlington, Virginia. It’s no longer a case of “boys being boys.” By every statistical measure, boys are falling steadily and alarmingly behind in school. Why Boys Fail draws on a wealth of data, interviews, case studies, and clearheaded analysis to both document the problem and uncover the real culprit driving the academic slide of boys: they just don’t have the reading and writing skills needed to keep up. And the book shares some good news in the form of schools that are getting it right by implementing practical strategies and programs for boosting literacy among the entire student body—boys and girls alike. Advance Praise for Why Boys Fail : “­Richard Whitmire writes a compelling book about a rea