Richard Whitmire

As someone who witnesses at work on a regular basis the failings of the education system in preparing students for college level work, I have found the research on K-12 education fascinating. There have been numerous studies on the lack of rigor and depth in American high schools, especially when compared to countries who are at the top of the lists in key subjects such as science, math, and reading. This book addresses this topic, but from an unusual perspective — the gender gap. There has been a recent surge in research regarding the seeming prolonged adolescence, particularly in young men: much of it cites the rise of women in education and the workforce, permissive parenting, lack of employment opportunities, the prevalence of escapist entertainment. And although some of these are briefly addressed by the author, his self-proclaimed summary statement is “The world has gotten more verbal; boys haven’t” (28).

One of the things I really appreciate about this book is that Whitmire does not stop at reporting the data on why boys are failing, but goes further and finds schools, programs, and administrators who have made changes for improvement. He talks about mentoring programs, tutoring, curriculum reviews, teaching styles — all practical, real-life applications that educators, teachers, and administrators can consider for improving the odds for the boys in their schools, as well as the challenges and obstacles that they faced while implementing these changes. This is an excellent book for those who are interested in both education and gender roles, and it tackles issues which many people have spent too long avoiding.… (lisätietoja)

If we look at various segments of the school-age children and teens in the U.S., there are some various disturbing patterns that have developed over the last decasde. Girls and doing better in school than boys; the gifted are not being challenged (see Mind the Other Gap); minorities are making some progress but not enough; reading scores are level according to the lates NAEP test results; and on and on and on. Whitmire posits that too much emphasis on reading too early is one of the root causes of boy’s lack of progress. We read as teacher librarians, all this news of the disparity among many groups. From our vantage point as we watch all the children and teens across our schools, what patterns and trends do we see in our own communities? Armed with Whitmore’s recommendations that he documents with research findings along with the many other recommendations we can find from other major researchers, what can we recommend to our professional learning communities. One thing is to watch the particular emphasis in a local school and watch for those who are falling through the cracks. Can a school focus on more than one problem at a time? Can they pay attention to the gifted without neglecting the unsuccessful student? Can a school build young women to succeed as the glass ceiling becomes thinner, or by doing so, do they destroy the confidence of young men who tend to get poorer grades? Whitmire offers a nmber of recommendations. Here are a few that might be of value to the teacher librarian: volunteer for a tutoring program so that you begin to understand who is at risk; have a great collection of boy-centered books that boys want to read; encourage experimental reading programs to see what works not only with boys but others who are not doing well; make literacy in middle and high school a central focus rather than assuming that everyone should have learned to read in elementary school; make high school more relevant so that boys have more reason to read as part of the various projects they are doing. This is one of a number of books that are worth reading in order to stimulate our ideas and see problems and solutions from a wider perspective.… (lisätietoja)