3 ms·

It doesn't. "...while average scores have declined for everyone, boys are doing much worse." And it definitely doesn't get the resources. "But in contrast wi

It doesn't. "...while average scores have declined for everyone, boys are doing much worse." And it definitely doesn't get the resources. "But in contrast with efforts to encourage girls in math and science, which have helped shrink their achievement gap with boys, little attention or effort has been focused on improving boys’ reading skills." We've been framing things the same way for decades now, ignoring boys. Maybe it is time to frame things differently. Unless you also think that boys just don't matter.

bell-cot 9mo ago
Sadly, it sounds like you're all-in on making it a zero sum, us-vs.-them game. If not declaring a war over resources in the Education-Industrial Complex, then condemning anyone who's reluctant to take up arms for your cause. Vs. over 100 years ago, my grandmother taught 1st through 8th grades. In a one-room schoolhouse. Rural community - maybe 1% of parents had been to college. Annual per-student funding was $50-ish. Grandma's teaching credentials were, at best, a 2-year "Normal School" degree. The School District's Superintendent was probably 1/4 time or less, with zero administrative staff. And yet the vast majority of grandma's students left her 8th grade able to read at that level. Old family stories from the era have neither "boys vs. girls" subtexts, nor zero-sum worldviews.
- mpweiher 9mo ago
  Nope, the only one making it a zero-sum us-vs.them game is you. The article noted that there is a large gap, and that it is widening. This obviously calls for measures to help boys close that gap, measures that haven't been taken for decades. Any measures to correct an overall decline in reading are unaffected by this. Nobody called for general reductions or reductions for girls. Only you came and denied that boys should receive help when they are facing a disadvantage. Why? Why is the idea of boys getting help so completely und unacceptably horrible for you? Interesting story about your grandma in the olden days, but has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

bell-cot 9mo ago

Sadly, it sounds like you're all-in on making it a zero sum, us-vs.-them game. If not declaring a war over resources in the Education-Industrial Complex, then condemning anyone who's reluctant to take up arms for your cause. Vs. over 100 years ago, my grandmother taught 1st through 8th grades. In a one-room schoolhouse. Rural community - maybe 1% of parents had been to college. Annual per-student funding was $50-ish. Grandma's teaching credentials were, at best, a 2-year "Normal School" degree. The School District's Superintendent was probably 1/4 time or less, with zero administrative staff. And yet the vast majority of grandma's students left her 8th grade able to read at that level. Old family stories from the era have neither "boys vs. girls" subtexts, nor zero-sum worldviews.

mpweiher 9mo ago
Nope, the only one making it a zero-sum us-vs.them game is you. The article noted that there is a large gap, and that it is widening. This obviously calls for measures to help boys close that gap, measures that haven't been taken for decades. Any measures to correct an overall decline in reading are unaffected by this. Nobody called for general reductions or reductions for girls. Only you came and denied that boys should receive help when they are facing a disadvantage. Why? Why is the idea of boys getting help so completely und unacceptably horrible for you? Interesting story about your grandma in the olden days, but has nothing to do with the topic at hand.