Boys are failing in the classroom

Great...more dumb men in the world! Can't wait...

Someone should send this over to Larry Summers!

Little boys don't have much to prove. We are not teaching them self-motivation, and so.....they probably are not motivated.

Little girls are treated like 2nd or 3rd class citizens and so, they can be self-motivated to learn.

Oh....by the way......all motivation is self-motivation. And it can be learned.

I live a large part of each year in The Netherlands (hence can be found "overhere") and can add anecdotal information that there are a LOT of male teachers in the Dutch culture. I consider this a good thing and wonder how it is nowadays in the U.S.A.

I have a male child and definitely have my opinions on how I think schools are doing (poorly) but I figure there are two ways to look at this:
1. Schools are failing boys (for a variety of reasons I won't bore you with here).
2. Boys have evolved beyond the need for institutionalized learning and have created their own paradigm for "education."

I was genuinely worried for my son's future based on his lack of interest in school but knowing that he is no dummy (He's actually quite bright but finds school uninspiring and hostile), and that many a career has been made with no "sheepskin" degree these days (especially with the new Information Age), I'm not as worried anymore. Perhaps passion and ambition have more influence now than so called "education" (which if you ask me, such as it is now, is an unqualified disaster).

I think that is globally heading in the same direction. I left my island and came to the US to pursue higher education, 3 out of 4 of my guy friends had the opportunity to do the same and they preferred to stay home and play xbox and party.

I got my bachelors and I'm getting my masters by the end of this year and they are still nagging how they want to go to college and get a better job.

Nothing comes to you, you have to sacrifice and search for what you want in life.

And the case is that they are still stuck with the same look, still playing games, and partying. (not bad because I'm a gamer too but you have to know when to have fun and when to be serious)

I agree with you, malathion. And I know someone who was royally screwed by west point.
and speaking of xbox, assassin's creed's ending was a total bummer.

the US will be in some kind of war from now on , and the boys playing Halo now will be the best soldiers in the future - if "the gov't "was really smart , IT would be sponsoring Halo tournaments , and offering scholarships to west point ( etc. ) to the best players ...that is , if they can pass a physical ...

Good article- but I wonder how problems like these are outside of the U.S.

There is a crisis in this country regarding our children. This is one part of that crisis. The book, " Real Boys : Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood" by Dr. William Pollack is an excellent read on the subject.