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Why Johnny can't read
An educator says the system is failing boys because schools don't recognize the cognitive differences between the sexes.
By PIPER JONES CASTILLO
Published October 10, 2005
The way Kathy Stevens sees it, we've got trouble. Stevens, who teamed with Michael Gurian to write The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons from Falling Behind in School and Life, describes a "crisis in male education."
Tonight, Stevens will share her beliefs on how we are failing our sons, how our schools favor girls over boys, how the male brain works differently than a female's, and how, nonetheless, with the correct approach, our boys can achieve greatness.
Stevens has more than 25 years' experience working on youth, family and women's issues in the nonprofit sector. She serves as the training director of the Gurian Institute in Colorado Springs, Colo., an organization that creates interdisciplinary training for educators by combining information from neurobiology, biochemistry, anthropology, pyschology and sociology.
Stevens spoke about her ideas by phone last week.
When I talked about your speaking engagement with a co-worker, a parent of a teenage son, I described how your studies of the brain show differences between the sexes, and how the boy brain does best when the boy is physically moving. The co-worker interrupted and said: "You mean when you do a brain scan of a teenage boy, there's actually something there to look at?"
Seriously, do people look at you funny when you present them with this brain research?
(Laughing) I think the way to answer this is to say that I believe people know intuitively that boys and girls are different, but they just haven't seen it in writing. Now we are able to give them specifics with science. Once they are presented with the facts, they say to us: "Oh, that's why I'm experiencing this with my son."
The most amazing thing about evolving science like this is that when we compare what we'll know about the brain in the years to come to what we know today, we are only at about 4 percent at this point.
Are there women who are angry at the attention you are giving boys?
Oh yeah, certainly there are.
Actually, when I hear that girls have been favored and boys have been ignored, I immediately get my fists up. What do you say to feminists in their 40s and 50s who may have had a macho upbringing, and who learned to incorporate all the good stuff from the feminist movement in order to succeed in their career, and ultimately, in life?
Our position on that is that you cannot say that men and women are anything but equal, because men and women are, and further, women still struggle. Women still don't make enough money, for example, and we still have other issues to deal with.
However, from an educational standpoint, feminism did great things for girls. For example, it helped move Title IX into the schools. Everybody thought the boys would be fine whether we paid attention to them or not, and they are not fine.
I have a granddaughter. I want her to find a great guy to marry. If we don't take care of our boys, there will not be the kind of men we want our daughters and granddaughters to be involved with. The reality is that our schools are teaching toward a girl's brain. The difference is that girls are better at verbal function, and boys are better with nonverbal function. We have to teach girls a different way than boys, and now boys are failing in language arts at a high rate. The way the schools are teaching language arts classes, for example, does not help the boys.
In the book, you present a multitude of ideas on promoting literacy, and one involves "boy energy." Can you give an example for our readers on how a parent can accomplish a family reading hour and let the young sons move around at the same time?
Okay, here's what I instruct parents to do. The male brain needs movement. You don't expect the boy to sit still. While you are reading a story, let him play Legos. Let him doodle on paper. Let him move around freely, as long as he knows his parameters. Every few minutes, stop reading and engage him in questions.
As a member of a large family, with 25 nieces and nephews under the age of 25, I can use my clan as a societal gauge, and in our clan, what you say is true. Our women have fared better academically, specifically at the college level, than our men. Your book focuses on boys from preschool through high school, but what about my nephews who are sophomores and juniors in college? Can you give them any encouragement on how to handle the rest of their education?
That will be the next area we have to pay attention to. What you have to do now is get them to read the book, and say to them, "Look in here, and try to think back on what made you turn off during your education. The fact that you are not doing well may have to do with the training ground. You didn't get what you needed."
Get them to seek out mentors. Men, like your own husband, need to sit down and dialogue with these boys. Older males that can be the mentors can really define how they do.
Do you have particular advice for those who are struggling financially, in particular, single moms raising sons?
In the book, we describe "parent-led" teams (the teams are made up of parents, other relatives, tutors, coaches, neighbors, friends, service agencies, clergy and other peer mentors). It's extremely important for the single mother to seek out the males in her parent-led team. There is nothing as important as older males in a boy's life. Boys don't become men without men in their lives.
When did you decide to get involved with the Gurian Institute?
I heard Michael (Gurian) speak in the early 1990s, and because of my job in social work, along with raising my sons, I started following his work. I was working in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, and I scheduled him to come into our community. The rest is history. It is a great partnership. In the social work field, you hope that your work will help a person's life, and that is what is so rewarding about this. I am getting calls from all over the country from people saying things like, "It's like you know my son. It's a relief to know that I am not crazy. Now I have science to back me up, and I can go into the school and say this is why he is like this."
- Piper Jones Castillo can be reached at 727 893-8827 or pcastillo@sptimes.com
IF YOU GO
Kathy Stevens will speak to parents and educators on how boys and girls learn differently at 7 tonight at the Suncoast Cathedral, 2300 62nd Ave. N, St. Petersburg. The event is free, and child care will be provided. For reservations, call Debbie Jimpie at (727) 522-3000.
[Last modified October 8, 2005, 10:47:02]
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