Boys are falling behind and dropping out of academics. Region : USA

USA: Our boys are falling behind and dropping out of academics

As boys sink further socially, so too, do they sink academically. A recent Gallup Student Poll suggests that boys have a weaker emotional connection with school as early as fifth grade, and that more than one in four boys are not engaged or actively disengaged in fifth grade.

Some researchers suggest that boys are disengaged and getting lower grades in class because our schools are not “boy-friendly.” In their book, The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What It Means for American Schools, Thomas A. DiPrete and Claudia Buchmann, sociology professors at Columbia and Ohio State, state that “Boys involved in extracurricular cultural activities such as music, art, drama, and foreign languages report higher levels of school engagement and get better grades than other boys. But these activities are often denigrated as un-masculine.”

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, boys and men are falling behind academically and socially:

• Boys are 30 percent more likely than girls to flunk or drop out of school.
• Girls outperform boys academically, from elementary school to graduate school.
• Women receive 60 percent of all bachelor’s degrees now.
• Boys are five times more likely to be labeled with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).