Boys & Reading

As the father of a four year-old boy and a former 7th grade language arts teacher, I have become concerned about an alarming trend that has developed regarding our children’s reading abilities.

The U.S. Department of Education reading tests for the last 30 years show boys scoring worse than girls in every age group, every year:
• Eighth grade boys are 50 percent more likely to be held back than girls.
• Two-thirds of Special Education Students in high school are boys.
• Overall college enrollment is higher for girls than boys.

WHY ARE BOYS UNDERPERFORMING?

Jon Scieszka, author of children’s books such as The Stinky Cheese Man and the Time Warp Trio series, believes that boys are slower to develop than girls biologically and therefore often have early struggles with reading and writing skills. On his website www.guysread.com, he also says that the male way of learning, which tends to be action oriented and competitive, works against boys in many classrooms.

“Boys like to read for a purpose, to find out how to do things, like how to build a dirt bike or skateboard. That’s just not encouraged enough,” Scieszka says. “Nonfiction reading is reading. Magazines, newspapers, websites, biographies, science books, comic books, graphic novels are all reading material, he adds.

• Boys generally take longer than girls to develop comparable literacy skills. What is considered a grade level appropriate reading skill for a girl cannot always be considered the same for a boy.

• Boys generally need more instructional time than girls do. In the larger, time limited classes of middle and high school teachers are unable to give boys as much one-on-one time. Therefore, they do not make as much progress in reading as girls do.

• Boys of all ages generally read less than girls.

• Middle school aged boys indicate that they believe reading is much harder than it was in elementary school.

• Boys claim reading becomes less enjoyable as they become older.

• Many adolescent boys fail to see real life applications in what they read. Literature read in Language Arts classes tells “stories” rather than providing useful information. Some boys stop reading because they think there is no practical value in reading.

• As they reach adolescence more and more boys stop considering themselves readers. Research on the reading attitudes of middle school boys shows that many consider themselves “non-readers”.

• Reading is sometimes stereotyped as a “feminine” activity. When boys reach adolescence their gender identification becomes more important. If they believe reading is not a masculine activity, they will abandon it in order to demonstrate their masculinity.

BOYS & READING IN THE NEWS
The following provides some links to recent news coverage on the topic of boys and reading:

• http://www.pearsoned.com/pr_2008/050908.htm
• http://www.pearsoned.com/pr_2008/081908.htm
• http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-caw-wordplay242008aug24,1,5568320.story
• http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jul/29/girls-still-top-boys-writing-reading/
• http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=talkbackCommentsFull&talk_back_header_id=439816&articleid=CA439816
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/08/22/AR2008082202398.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
  

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Family Education Network: www.fen.com
• Guys Read: www.guysread.com

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. 081283 P08-10-31G