The War Against Boys

by Christina Hoff Sommers

  32. Celine Coggins, Are Boys Making the Grade? Gender Gaps in Achievement and Attainment (Cambridge, MA: Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, October 2006), p. 9.

  33. Ibid., p. 2.

  34. California Postsecondary Education Commission, The Gender Gap in California Higher Education: Commission Report 06-08 (Sacramento: California Postsecondary Education Commission, June 2006), and California Postsecondary Education Commission, The Gender Gap in California Higher Education: Commission Report: A Follow-Up (Sacramento: California Postsecondary Education Commission, September 2006).

  35. Ibid., p. 2.

  36. Ibid., p. 5.

  37. Linda Hallman, AAUW Current Topics Briefing #5: Breaking Through Barriers Briefing, American Association of University Women, June 30, 2008, www.aauw.org/member_center/briefings/briefingUnifyingFocus_063008.cfm (accessed August 9, 2011).

  38. Linda Hallman, “Strength in Numbers,” AAUW Outlook (Washington, DC: AAUW Publications Office, Spring/Summer 2008), p. 3.

  39. Turner Strategies Inc., AAUW “Where the Girls Are” Report soundbites from AAUW President Linda Hallman, 7 min., 31 sec.; video recording, uploaded May 18, 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdPkKgM2kfw (accessed August 9, 2011). Quote begins at 1:18.

  40. It was also featured in several influential education publications and websites such as the National Council of Teachers of English Blog and Inside Higher Education.

  41. Christianne Corbett, Catherine Hill, and Andresse St. Rose, Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in Education (Washington, DC: AAUW Educational Foundation, May 2008), p. 6.

  42. Ibid., p. 55.

  43. Ibid., p. 2.

  44. Ibid., p. 9.

  45. Caryl Rivers and Rosalind Chait Barnett, “The Myth of the Boys Crisis,” Washington Post, April 9, 2006, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/07/AR2006040702025.html (accessed June 20, 2012). See also Sara Mead, The Evidence Suggests Otherwise: The Truth About Girls and Boys (Washington, DC: Education Sector, June 2006).

  46. Tamar Lewin, “Girls’ Gains Have Not Cost Boys, Report Says,” New York Times, May 20, 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/education/20girls.html (accessed June 20, 2012).

  47. Corbett, Hill, and St. Rose, Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in Education, p. 55.

  48. US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Earned Degrees Conferred, 1869–70 through 1964–65; Projections of Education Statistics to 2019; Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred surveys, 1965–66 through 1985–86; and 1986–87 through 2008–09 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions Survey (IPEDS-C:87-99), and Fall 2000 through Fall 2009. (This table was prepared September 2010.)

  49. PBS NewsHour, “Forum: Education Experts on Gender Gap,” PBS, www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/education/jan-june08/gendergap_05-21.html (accessed August 4, 2011).

  50. US Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2008 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (internet release date: April 2009).

  51. Valerie Strauss, “No Crisis for Boys in Schools, Study Says,” Washington Post, May 20, 2010, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051902798.html (accessed July 11, 2012).

  52. According to statistics from 2009 Department of Education data cited by forbes.com, the gender ratio at Fisk University is 64 percent female, 35 percent male, www.forbes.com/colleges/fisk-university/ (accessed July 11, 2012); U.S. News & World Report’s profile of Howard University includes a student body that is 67 percent female and 33 percent male, http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/howard-university-1448 (accessed July 11, 2012); U.S. News & World Report shows a gender ratio of 72 percent female and 28 percent male for Clark Atlanta University, http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/clark-atlanta-university-1551 (accessed July 11, 2012).

  53. Andrew Sum et al., “The Gender Gaps in High School Graduation, Post-Secondary Education/Training Program Enrollment, and Four-Year College Enrollment Rates of Boston Public School Graduates, Class of 2007” (Boston: Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, 2009), p. 16.

  54. See Victor B. Saenz, “The Vanishing Latino Male in Higher Education,” Journal of Hispanic Higher Education 8, no. 1 (2009), pp. 54–89. See also Jerlando F. Jackson, “African-American Males in Education: Endangered or Ignored?,” The Teachers College Record 108, no. 2 (February 2006), pp. 201–205. See also Arizona State University Center for Community Development and Civil Rights, “Pathways to Prevention: The Latino Male Dropout Crisis” (2007).

  55. John Michael Lee Jr. and Tafaya Ransom, The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color: A Review of Research, Pathways and Progress (New York: College Board Advocacy and Policy Center, June 2011), p. 50.

  56. Pryor, Hurtado, DeAngelo, Palucki Blake, and Tran, The American Freshman: National Norms, Fall 2010, pp. 43, 67. Data comes from number of respondents who answered “A or A+” to the question “What was your average grade in high school?”

  57. Judith Kleinfeld, Five Powerful Strategies for Connecting Boys to Schools, paper for White House Conference on Helping America’s Youth, Indianapolis, IN (June 6, 2006), pp. 1–2.

  58. Corbett, Hill, and St. Rose, Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in Education, p. 9.

  59. Colleen Leahey, “Update: Fortune 500 Women CEOs Hits a Record 20,” Fortune, July 18, 2012, http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/18/fortune-500-women-ceos-2/ (accessed January 24, 2013). Library of Congress, “Members of the US Congress,” http://beta.congress.gov/members?pageSize=25&Legislative_Source=Member+Profiles&Congress=113th+Congress+%282013-2014%29 (accessed January 22, 2013); Martha S. West and John W. Curtis, “AAUP Faculty Gender Equity Statistics, 2005,” American Association of University Professors, www.aaup.org/NR/rdonlyres/63396944-44BE-4ABA-9815-5792D93856F1/0/AAUPGenderEquityIndicators2006.pdf (accessed April 25, 2012); www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t16.htm; Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic News Release, January 4, 2014; James J. Stephan, “Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, October 2008, www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/csfcf05.pdf (accessed April 25, 2012).

  60. “An Analysis of Reasons for the Disparity in Wages Between Men and Women,” CONSAD Research Group, available at www.consad.com/content/reports/Gender%20Wage%20Gap%20Final%20Report.pdf (accessed March 9, 2012).

  61. Midwest Pharmacy Workforce Research Consortium, 2009 National Pharmacies Workplace Survey (Alexandria, VA: Pharmacy Manpower Project, 2010).

  62. Eduardo Porter, “Motherhood Still a Cause of Pay Inequality,” New York Times, June 12, 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/business/economy/motherhood-still-a-cause-of-pay-inequality.html?_r=1 (accessed June 20, 2012).

  63. AAUW, Behind the Pay Gap, 2007, p. 18. Buried in the report is this statement: “After accounting for all factors known to affect wages, about one-quarter of the gap remains unexplained and may be attributed to discrimination” (emphasis added). As Steve Chapman noted in Reason, “Another way to put it is that three-quarters of the gap clearly has innocent causes—and that we actually don’t know whether discrimination accounts for the rest,” http://reason.com/archives/2010/08/19/the-truth-about-the-pay-gap (accessed June 20, 2012).

  64. Ibid., p. 3.

  65. National Organization for Women, “Women Deserve Equal Pay,” www.now.org/issues/economic/factsheet.html (accessed June 20, 2012).

  66. Kevin Wack and Beth Quinby, “Boys in Jeopardy at School,” Portland Press Herald, March 18, 2010, www.pressherald.com/archive/boys-in-jeopardy-at-school_2008-02-07.html (accessed January 25, 2013).

  67. Ibid.

  68. Tom Mortenson, “What’s Wrong with Guys?,” Postsecondary Education Opportunity 39, article 1 (September 1995), www.postsecondary.org/articlesyearlist.asp?cat5=%271995%27# (accessed June 20, 2012).

  69. Scott Jaschik, “Is There a Crisis in Education of Males?,” insidehighered.com, May 21,
2008, www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/05/21/gender (accessed June 20, 2012).

  70. US Department of Health and Human Services, “Secretary Shalala Unveils New Girl Power!–Girl Scouts Partnership,” news release, June 23, 1997.

  71. According to the book description, Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia spent three years on the New York Times bestseller list.

  72. William C. Symonds, Robert B. Schwartz, and Ronald Ferguson, Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century (Pathways to Prosperity Project, Harvard Graduate School of Education, February 2011), p. 2.

  73. Ibid.

  74. Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney, “Trends: Reduced Earnings for Men in America,” The Milken Institute Review (3rd qtr., 2011), p. 8, www.milkeninstitute.org/publications/publications.taf?function=detail&ID=38801273&cat=MIR (accessed June 20, 2012).

  75. Ibid., p. 14.

  76. Mark Mather, “In US, a Sharp Increase in Young Men Living at Home,” Population Reference Bureau, September 2011, www.prb.org/articles/2011/us-young-adults-living-at-home.aspx (accessed June 15, 2011).

  77. The Coalition includes the AAUW and the National Women’s Law Center.

  78. National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE), Title IX at 40: Working to Ensure Gender Equity in Education (Washington, DC: NCWGE, 2012), p. 30. Available at www.ncwge.org/PDF/TitleIXat40.pdf (accessed July 11, 2012).

  79. Ibid., p. 35.

  80. Linda Hallman, “Strength in Numbers.” AAUW Outlook (Washington, DC: AAUW Publications, Spring/Summer 2008), p. 13.

  81. William Brozo and Richard Whitmire, “Boys Aren’t Learning to Read—and It’s a Global Problem,” New York Daily News, December 20, 2010, http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-12-20/news/27084903_1_reading-literacy-skills-boys (accessed June 20, 2012).

  82. Office for Civil Rights and US Department of Education, Gender Equity in Education: A Data Snapshot, June 2012, www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/gender-equity-in-education.pdf (accessed January 22, 2013).

  83. College Board, Program Summary Report 2012, http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/program_summary_report_2012.pdf (accessed January 22, 2013).

  84. Christopher Cornwell et al., “Non-cognitive Skills and the Gender Disparities in Test Scores and Teacher Assessments: Evidence from Primary School,” Journal of Social Resources (Winter 2013), pp. 236–264.

  85. Matt Weeks, “New UGA Research Helps Explain Why Girls Do Better in Schools,” UGA Today, January 2, 2013, http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/why-girls-do-better-in-school-010212/ (accessed January 22, 2013).

  2. No Country for Young Men

  1. Amanda Rose et al., “How Girls and Boys Expect Disclosure About Problems Will Make Them Feel: Implications for Friendships,” Child Development, February 2012, pp. 844–866.

  2. See, for example, Carrie Stetler, “ ‘Tug of War’ now ‘Tug of Peace,’ ” June 12, 2008, http://blog.nj.com/parentalguidance/2008/06/tugopeace.html (accessed June 20, 2012). Additional examples of students playing “tug of peace” are found at Avon Elementary School in Albany, MN: http://www.albany.k12.mn.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=PS7Sr0Jb9-s%3D&tabid=541&mid=2790&language=en-US; Frost Valley YMCA Summer Camp in Claryville, NY: http://fvsummercamp.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/tug-of-peace/; Friends School of Portland in Falmouth, ME: http://friendsschoolofportland.org/photos/tug-peace; and Connelly School of the Holy Child in Potomac, MD: http://www.holychild.org/HAPPENINGS_FEBRUARY152012 (all accessed January 24, 2013).

  3. Janet Cromley, “Tag, You’re Out!,” Los Angeles Times, November 6, 2006, http://articles.latimes.com/2006/nov/06/health/he-tag6 (accessed June 20, 2012).

  4. Martin Miller, “Principal Says the Game of Tag Lowers Students’ Self-esteem,” Chicago Tribune, June 26, 2002, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-06-26/features/0206260054_1_tag-self-esteem-chase-games (accessed July 11, 2012).

  5. Sandy Coleman, “Dodgeball Sparks Debate in Schools,” Dayton Daily News, April 3, 2001.

  6. Thomas Murphy, physical education teacher at Tobin Elementary School, in ibid.

  7. Paul Zientarski, department chairman for Naperville Central High School, in Karen Brandon, “Foul Ball: Childhood Game Picking Up More Enemies; Some PE Teachers Say Dodgeball Sends Harmful Message,” Chicago Tribune, March 18, 2001, sec. C, p. 1.

  8. Neil F. Williams, “The Physical Education Hall of Shame,” Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance 65, no. 2, (February 1994), pp. 57–60.

  9. For a review of the literature, see A. D. Pellegrini and Peter K. Smith, “Physical Activity Play: The Nature and Function of a Neglected Aspect of Play,” Child Development 69, no. 3 (June 1998), pp. 577–598.

  10. Eleanor Emmons Maccoby and Carl Nagy Jacklin, The Psychology of Sex Differences (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1974), p. 352. Janet Lever, “Sex Differences in the Games Children Play,” Social Problems 23 (1967), pp. 478–487. See also Deborah Tannen, You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation (New York: Ballantine, 1990), pp. 43–47.

  11. Deborah Tannen, op. cit., p. 47.

  12. Anthony Pellegrini and Jane Perlmutter, “Rough-and-Tumble Play on the Elementary School Playground,” Young Children, January 1998, pp. 14–17.

  13. Ibid., p. 15.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Mary Ellin Logue and Hattie Harvey, “Preschool Teachers’ Views of Active Play,” Journal of Research in Childhood Education 24, no. 1 (December 2009), p. 35.

  16. Ibid., p. 35.

  17. Ibid., p. 45.

  18. Ibid., p. 42.

  19. Walter S. Gilliam, “Prekindergarteners Left Behind: Expulsion Rates in State Prekindergarten Systems,” Foundation for Child Development Policy Brief Series no. 3 (May 2005).

  20. Logue and Harvey, “Preschool Teachers’ View of Active Play,” p. 43.

  21. Mary Ellin Logue and Hattie Shelton, “The Stories Bad Guys Tell: Promoting Literacy and Social Awareness in Preschool,” The Constructivist, National Journal for the Association of Constructivist Teaching, September 2008. Also see Jane Klatch, Under Deadman’s Skin (Boston: Beacon Press, 2001).

  22. Logue and Harvey, “Preschool Teachers’ View of Active Play,” p. 35.

  23. Megan Rosenfeld, “Reexamining the Plight of Young Males,” Washington Post, March 26, 1998, p. A1.

  24. Ibid.

  25. “The War on Boys,” National Desk, PBS, April 9, 1999.

  26. “Daily School Recess Improves Classroom Behavior,” sciencedaily.com, January 26, 2009, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090126173835.htm (accessed June 20, 2012).

  27. Dirk Johnson, “Many Schools Putting an End to Child’s Play,” New York Times, April 7, 1998, www.nytimes.com/1998/04/07/us/many-schools-putting-an-end-to-child-s-play.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm (accessed June 20, 2012).

  28. Ibid.

  29. A. D. Pellegrini, Patti David Huberty, and Ithel Jones, “The Effects of Recess Timing on Children’s Playground and Classroom Behaviors,” American Educational Research Journal 32, no. 4 (Winter 1995), pp. 845–864.

  30. Gopal K. Singh and Michael D. Kogan, “Childhood Obesity in the United States, 1976–2008,” US Department of Health and Human Services, www.hrsa.gov/healthit/images/mchb_obesity_pub.pdf (accessed June 20, 2012); and Cynthia L. Ogden et al., “Prevalence of Obesity in the United States, 2009–2010,” US Department of Health and Human Services, www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db82.pdf (accessed June 20, 2012).

  31. Carlin DeGuerin Miller, “Two-Inch Lego Gun Gets 4th-Grader Patrick Timoney in Trouble; Where’s the NRA?,” cbsnews.com, February 4, 2010, www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-6173526-504083.html (accessed June 20, 2012).

  32. Andy Cordan, “Boy Disciplined After Waving a Gun-shaped Pizza Slice,” wkrn.com, December 14, 2011, www.wkrn.com/story/16325409/gun-shaped-pizza-slice (accessed June 20, 2012); Kathryn Sotnik, “Coventry School Bans Army Men Hat,” wpri.com, June 17, 2010, www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/coventry-school-bans-army-men-hat (accessed June 20, 20
12); Ian Urbina, “Boy’s Camping Utensil Violates ‘Zero Tolerance,’ ” New York Times, October 12, 2009, www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/11/MNM21A4B2T.DTL (accessed September 20, 2012).

  33. “Boy Suspended Over Utensil Gets Reprieve,” today.com, October 14, 2009, http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33289924/ns/today-today_news/t/boy-suspended-over-utensil-gets-reprieve/#.T9uACHngf5w (accessed September 20, 2012).

  34. Department of Education, Condition of Education, 2009, p. 206. See also Steven Teske, “A Study of Zero Tolerance Polices in Schools: A Multi-Integrated Systems Approach to Improve Outcomes for Adolescents,” Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing 24 (2011), p. 89.

  35. National Center for Education Statistics, Youth Indicators 2011, December 2011, p. 38.

  36. James Comer and Alvin Poussaint, Raising Black Children (New York: Plume Books, 1992), pp. 197–198.

  37. Marianne Bertrand and Jessica Pan, “The Trouble with Boys: Social Influences and the Gender Gap in Disruptive Behavior,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper No. 17541, October 2011, www.nber.org/papers/w17541 (accessed August 20, 2012).

  38. Ibid., p. 2.

  39. Carolyn Evertson and Carol Weinstein, eds., Handbook of Classroom Management: Research, Practice and Contemporary Issues (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2006), pp. 1068–1069.

  40. Zero Tolerance Task Force, “Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools?,” American Psychologist (December 2008), p. 856, www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/zero-tolerance-report.pdf (accessed September 20, 2012).

  41. Crime Lab, University of Chicago, “BAM—Sports Edition,” July 2012, https://crimelab.uchicago.edu/sites/crimelab.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/BAM_FINAL%20Research%20and%20Policy%20Brief_20120711.pdf. (accessed January 22, 2013).

  42. Zero Tolerance Task Force, “Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools?”

  43. Ibid., p. 54. See also Linda Raffaele Mendez, “Predictors of Suspension and Negative School Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study,” New Directions for Youth Development 99 (Fall 2003), pp. 17–33.

  44. Zero Tolerance Task Force, “Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective?,” p. 853.