You walk into a classroom with children silently reading, the girls are diligently reading while the males into the class are acting out. This can be a seen found through-out America. It seems today that more girls are reading than boys. So I pose the question, “why are girls reading more than boys?” There are many answers to the question and solutions as well. Although, boys are reading there is a reason why girls are reading more this can be due to biological reasons, self-fulfilling prophecy, and the cause for other interests.
According to Science Daily, boy’s brains work differently with different with language then girls. Girls and boys rely on different parts of the brain to process language. Boys are more sensory while girls are more abstract. (Northwestern University) With that said boys may have trouble processing abstract things like language i.e. reading. So this can cause boys to read less and girls read more. I am not sure how I felt about this articles research. However, it was a actual experiment that found concrete evidence through brain scans. I’d like to think though that if boys are encouraged to read they will.
Self-fulfilling prophecy may be another factor. Explained by Live Science, schools are playing a large role in why boys are not reading. Schools give girls more incentive to read and may argue “its okay boys are not as good as girls are at reading.” (Britt) So, basically schools are allowing boys to not read as much as girls because it is socially accepted. With schools allowing this male students believe they are not good at reading so they actually are not good at reading. I think this is a pretty sad statement, if schools just expanded their outreach to boys reading programs quite possibly the issue may start to be solved.
Lastly, on the same note male students are expected to be good at other activities opposed to reading. From my personal experiences male students are expected to be good at sports and then subjects that are more concrete such as math and sciences. With expectations like these boys put all their energy and effort toward the aforementioned activities. This occurrence happens to the extent that boys find reading boring and the other activities more entertaining.
Without a doubt boys are reading less then girls. I feel this is a problem that must be addressed at a young age in school and at home. Boys need to be encouraged to read. Today boys are faced with biological reasons along with self fulfilling prophecies. More needs to be done to correct this issue.
Works Cited:
Britt, Roy. "Why Johnny Can't Read: Schools Favor Girls." Live Science n. pag. Web. 25 Nov 2009.
Northwestern University. "Boys' And Girls' Brains Are Different: Gender Differences In Language Appear Biological." ScienceDaily 5 March 2008. 24 November 2009
Posted by
Lacie Ballard
8 comments:
I would've disagreed with that statement if it wasn't backed up by evidence. I would've said my boyfriends reads way more that I do and he is just as into sports and video games and such.
I guess the mentality of saying it's okay your not as good as girls would definitely diffuse the need to comprehend better.
For the solution aspect, I believe that school do play a factor in influencing but other social aspects play a role as well. At a young age, mimicry could be used as a teaching strategy. So if a child at home is exposed to reading, the likelihood of them being able to analyze should be significantly better. If they have problems analyzing they should start of with comics and such and build their way to the more complex literature.
Well I guess "Boys read less then girls" is a genralised statement. Surely, there are many males who are reading, especially with the emergence of strong male characters in literature aka."Harry Potter". I think genrally schools are finding males read less then girls ;however, there are exceptions.
This would essentially be a difficult topic to cover. You did a good job supporting your thoughts on it and a good job with the resources used. I know i can say from my perspective as a young boy and also in the classroom today that the typical boy is always more distracted. I was always more interested in what was going on out side and how i was going to get out there. I could have cared less what the teacher may have been trying to tell me. Now that i look back on it though i wish i would have taken more consideration towards the class room. School might not have been so hard on me!! Great job.
This would essentially be a difficult topic to cover. You did a good job supporting your thoughts on it and a good job with the resources used. I know i can say from my perspective as a young boy and also in the classroom today that the typical boy is always more distracted. I was always more interested in what was going on out side and how i was going to get out there. I could have cared less what the teacher may have been trying to tell me. Now that i look back on it though i wish i would have taken more consideration towards the class room. School might not have been so hard on me!! Great job.
I was very curious on what kind of back up you had for your question. It was very well done. I believe in the fact that boys are reading less than girls 100%. If we are talking about grade-high school level I am possitive this is true. College level it may be more even. I think the reading goes along with a general education. If you graduated from high school I think you are more likely to read, this is just my opinion. That is in the male standpoint. My boyfriend didn't graduate from high school, he has never even looked at getting his GED. I wouldn't be able to get him to read a book even if I gave him a dollor for every page he read.
I believe it is the enviorment that you were raised in and the education you got that makes you a read or not a reader. My high school pushed the girls to read and write and the boys to play sports.
I agree with your findings and I believe you are correct. Stopping the seperation at the source would be the easiest and most effective way to solve this problem. Getting the schools to change their ways would be hard but worth it for our kids futures!
Great Job!!! Good topic!
Hi, Lacie. Thanks for addressing this topic. I do think the difference relates to gender roles and also perhaps to biology. As Melanie mentioned, I think mimicry is important and not occurring at the elementary level for boys because most elementary teachers are female. Boys need to see men reading, enjoying reading, talking about reading, and connecting reading to their lives. Nancy
Dustin--I completely understand your stand point of a young boy in the classroom. I recall whenever we had silent reading in class, I would find myself stairing out the window.HAHA I think that really relates to students on all level. As a male student did you ever feel like adults were perhaps giving you messages that reading wasn't so important. I am pretty curious on the male perspective of this topic as I just looked at research done. I really can only go off what I felt was happening with the male students in my high school classes.:) thanks for your post to my BLOG Party!
Carman--I really agree that it has to do with the enviroment you're raised in. You're comment sparked an idea for me, I am curious if in house holds were televion, video games etc are prevelant that these students don't find reading to be cognitavly stimulating. On that note with popular books becoming movies i.e. Harry Potter & Twilight if students are now opting out of reading the book. Thanks so much for your post to my Blog as it really did spark some thoughts for me!:)
Proff Knowles--I really agree with you and Melanie I feel like if male students saw other males they looked up to reading perhaps they would mimic them and pick up a book as well! thanks for your post!
I really enjoyed your article. I always hear that girls are smarter than boys and I bet that belief probably stems from this. I wonder though, as times change, girls are also expected to perform in sports and other activities to the same level as boys. I would be curious to see if this causes a shift in the reading habits of children.
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