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Just gave the whole thing a listen, it doesn't seem to add more to the discussion than what is already known (to people who've been following the discussion, at

Just gave the whole thing a listen, it doesn't seem to add more to the discussion than what is already known (to people who've been following the discussion, at least). The most critical point seems to be the social aspect: Boys ostracize academically successful boys, and therefore boys are afraid to be seen as academically successful. Other minor social factors seem to be that teaching methods unintentionally disparage boys who weren't academically successful, often by creating competitive environments where they fall into a failing feedback loop and just quit participating in the competition altogether. It ends on a note saying that the way to fix is by acknowledging the fact that boys are falling behind, and adjusting our teaching methods and schools' social environments.

xondono 6y ago
Except this only reinforces the current environment. Anyone with experience in teaching environments knows girls are way worse at ostracizing successful students. It’s very interesting to me the claim that boys are quitting because there’s too much competition, because my experience is the complete opposite. The only thing that makes boys quit competing in my experience is either seeing the competition as pointless (“bad boy” attitude) or realizing that the competition is not fair. A lot of teachers are unaware as to how smart some kids can be. I’ve seen kids swap their names in tests just to validate the hypothesis that their language teacher was assigning grades based on who wrote what (which, having seen their numbers, looks like it was indeed happening).
- grenoire 6y ago
  I don't at all disagree; the variety of researchers interviewed had their own focuses, neither necessarily discounted what the others said. I do believe that a part of your anecdotal 'seeing competition as pointless' case must've leaked into the researcher who was discussing competition being discouraging.

xondono 6y ago

Except this only reinforces the current environment. Anyone with experience in teaching environments knows girls are way worse at ostracizing successful students. It’s very interesting to me the claim that boys are quitting because there’s too much competition, because my experience is the complete opposite. The only thing that makes boys quit competing in my experience is either seeing the competition as pointless (“bad boy” attitude) or realizing that the competition is not fair. A lot of teachers are unaware as to how smart some kids can be. I’ve seen kids swap their names in tests just to validate the hypothesis that their language teacher was assigning grades based on who wrote what (which, having seen their numbers, looks like it was indeed happening).

grenoire 6y ago
I don't at all disagree; the variety of researchers interviewed had their own focuses, neither necessarily discounted what the others said. I do believe that a part of your anecdotal 'seeing competition as pointless' case must've leaked into the researcher who was discussing competition being discouraging.