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The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do | 
 enlarge | Author: Peg Tyre
Publisher: Crown
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $16.47
You Save: $8.48 (34%)
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Rating:  15 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0307381285
Dewey Decimal Number: 371.8210973
EAN: 9780307381286
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
From the moment they step into the classroom, boys begin to struggle. They get expelled from preschool nearly five times more often than girls; in elementary school, they’re diagnosed with learning disorders four times as often. By eighth grade huge numbers are reading below basic level. And by high school, they’re heavily outnumbered in AP classes and, save for the realm of athletics, show indifference to most extracurricular activities. Perhaps most alarmingly, boys now account for less than 43 percent of those enrolled in college, and the gap widens every semester!
The imbalance in higher education isn’t just a “boy problem,” though. Boys’ decreasing college attendance is bad news for girls, too, because admissions officers seeking balanced student bodies pass over girls in favor of boys. The growing gender imbalance in education portends massive shifts for the next generation: how much they make and whom they marry.
Interviewing hundreds of parents, kids, teachers, and experts, award-winning journalist Peg Tyre drills below the eye-catching statistics to examine how the educational system is failing our sons. She explores the convergence of culprits, from the emphasis on high-stress academics in preschool and kindergarten, when most boys just can’t tolerate sitting still, to the outright banning of recess, from the demands of No Child Left Behind, with its rigid emphasis on test-taking, to the boy-unfriendly modern curriculum with its focus on writing about “feelings” and its purging of “high-action” reading material, from the rise of video gaming and schools’ unease with technology to the lack of male teachers as role models.
But this passionate, clearheaded book isn’t an exercise in finger-pointing. Tyre, the mother of two sons, offers notes from the front lines—the testimony of teachers and other school officials who are trying new techniques to motivate boys to learn again, one classroom at a time. The Trouble with Boys gives parents, educators, and anyone concerned about the state of education a manifesto for change—one we must undertake right away lest school be-come, for millions of boys, unalterably a “girl thing.”
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Worth the read November 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Many very good reviews have already been written, so I'll try to share something new. I was interested in this topic because I'm an elementary school teacher and am very interested in finding ways to help my struggling boy students. When I was working on my master's thesis with this very topic, I e-mailed Peg Tyre. At the time, she was working at Newsweek and had just written one of the articles about boys' underachievement that would later lead to this book. She was very helpful with my question and led me to additional resources. Because she is the mother of two boys and her articles were always interesting and well-written, this book intrigued me.
Tyre devotes a lot of time to describing why there is in fact a growing problem with the underachievement of boys, and she is effective in doing this. A large portion of the book describes how in some universities there is already a kind of affirmative action for boys because so many more girls are being accepted, and schools are changing their policies just to try to maintain some kind of balance.
A somewhat funny (and sobering) part of the book was when she mentioned the saying from the 80's that a woman is more likely to be killed by a terrorist than find a suitable man (I'm paraphrasing). Although this isn't true, it is true that increasingly more women are being admitted and graduating from college than men. Since these women tend to not want to "marry down" and look for equally successful partners with at least somewhat equal earning power,(men with a college degree)it's getting harder for these women to find men with college degrees, and it's even worse news for men who didn't go to college. (The percentage of unmarried men who didn't go to college has gone up considerably). I don't articulate this as well as she does, but I wanted to mention it because I never considered how a disparity between the numbers of men and women in college could have that kind of long-term consequence.
*She describes the importance of boys having mentors and gives many interesting anecdotes of this, including a high school that assigns men from the community to mentor its students, a "Dad's Club" that helps with projects around the school, and the importance of having boys see their Dads (or other men) involved with literacy.
*The impact of No Child Left Behind and its effect on school curriculum is described. It's scary to me that there are elementary schools being built without playgrounds. When I have to sit for most of the day in an inservice, it reminds me of how hard it is to be a student with a lot of energy. The importance of movement is discussed.
*While Tyre does describe some recent brain research, she is careful not to jump to conclusions with it. In fact, she mentions that neuroscientists don't believe we know enough about gender and learning to come up with brain-based gender-specific instruction.
*The impact of single-sex schooling is discussed. I disagree with an earlier review who said that Tyre seems to suggest that you should send your child to a private school if you can afford it. I thought Tyre mentioned several times that most single-sex schooling has been inconclusive in raising student achievement. She described an inner-city school in Baltimore that became a single-sex school (for males) but without careful planning and it was a disaster and became a hotbed for violence. However, she also mentions how for certain populations single-sex schooling could work well.
There is a lot more that I didn't even get to, but earlier reviews mention some of those points. This book is well worth your time.
Thought provoking October 25, 2008
Here's a great companion to Michael Thompson's Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. While this "report card on our sons" was hardly "surprising" to this community college teacher, Peg Tyre provides lots of facts and figures to support the growing realization among educators that too many young men are not reaching their potential. In too many classrooms, girls are productively engaged, earning good grades and getting what they need from their education while boys are either absent or disengaged and failing. Tyre's examples are illuminating, her breadth of information is convincing and her conclusions are reasonable. The style of language is quite engaging and accessible, so that the facts and figures area easily understandable for parents as well as teachers. Well, done, Ms. Tyre! Here's hoping your elucidation of this problem will prompt more work toward its solution. Wouldn't it be great if those boys would read it and see it as a wake-up call?
Janet Gingold
author of Finch Goes Wild, a novel about a middle school boy who turns his life around
 Provocative Read October 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This books makes you think about how the US school system has swung the pendulum so far in the direction of girls that boys get lost. Hopefully there can be more balance in the future.
Why are boys falling behind? October 7, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is a follow on to the author's Newsweek cover story about the widening gap between boys and girls academic performance in the United States. She makes the case that, just as we rallied in the 90s to help girls catch up to boys in math and science, we need to do the same for boys in reading and writing. The book cites a great deal of research from schools across the United States to show how this phenomenon is taking shape. It's really interesting stuff. Essentially, education in the US uses teaching methods that favor girls. At times the book is a little like a text book, but it offers startling conclusions that any parent with school-aged children needs to understand.
Another book I came across this week that I really enjoyed and recommend to parents is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book.
A reasoned and balanced prescription September 30, 2008
A wealth of information, ideas and resources for those who are concerned about the issue and working to make it better. My only minor quibble is the title which could be read to mean the problem is the boys. However, make no mistake, the tenor and tone of this book strikes the stark opposite conclusion. The problem is not boys rather what we have been doing to them. It is a balanced approach which I think hopes to avoid the polemic politicized rancor and ire this topic inspires among gender feminist groups like the AAUW and similar advocacy groups that utilize resources and strategies to undermine efforts of those hoping to improve the lives of boys. If interested in the politicized nature I would recommend locating and reading reports by the aforementioned. Ms. Tyre goes beyond and gets down to the nitty gritty and presents ideas to consider, practical solutions and includes numerous resources to tap into. I was most interested in the research surrounding teaching by phonics. A good solid book for those of us committed to effecting change for the benefit of boys, and moving beyond the peripheral and unfortunate efforts to make this a political platform.
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