Girls' successes in learning can't be used to create divisiveness

Browsing the new releases in the nonfiction section of your favorite bookstore will lead you to a myriad of books that ask, "What about the boys?" After decades of worry about how schools shortchange girls, there is a growing concern that boys have been overlooked, their needs neglected and their points of view dismissed.

In 2006, articles in Newsweek, the New Republic and Esquire magazine suggested schools need to be more equitable for boys.

And, recently, Thomas Dee, associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College and visiting scholar at Stanford University, states that in America's classrooms, boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women.

Coincidentally, Dee's study comes at a time when the number of male teachers is at its lowest level in 40 years. Roughly 80 percent of teachers in American public schools are women.

Today, the girls' education movement is in full flower, with girls and young women eagerly exploring opportunities with better skills, confidence and a will to achieve in every field of endeavor.

With a new-found sense of empowerment, girls have narrowed and even closed academic gaps that previously favored boys. Other long-standing academic gaps that favored girls have widened, leading to the belief that boys are falling behind.

Ruth Sweeser of the American Association of University Women sees this phenomenon in a different light. She believes girls are doing better, not that boys are doing worse. In fact, educators generally agree with Sweeser that many girls are advancing while many boys appear to be standing still.

Indeed, Gov. Linda Lingle's recent International Women's Conference highlighted the great strides that have been made regarding the role of women in our community and the world. We must continue research on the differences in the achievement of boys and girls, their brain development and the culture of schools in order to better understand how boys and girls learn.

Michael Thompson and Michael Gurian have highlighted the problems boys are facing in schools in Hawai'i and across the nation. According to the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, boys scored 242 in reading while the girls topped 256; girls led the math scores with 256 compared with boys at 246. Furthermore, 68 percent of students suspended at the middle school level in 2005 were male and 32 percent were female; 57 percent of high school dropouts are male and 43 percent are female; University of Hawai'i enrollment in 2006 showed females at 58 percent.

Additional comparisons show that: Four boys are diagnosed as emotionally disturbed to every one girl; there are six boys with attention deficit disorder to every one girl; two boys are diagnosed as learning disabled for every one girl, and 70 percent of children in special education are male. Furthermore, boys are four times as likely to commit suicide and three times as likely to do drugs. And, finally, 90 percent of all juvenile crime is committed by boys.

Of course, we must refrain from lumping all boys into a single category and all girls into another. We must not ignore serious problems and stereotypes that plague both sexes. There are many factors to consider in addition to gender, including race, socioeconomic status and brain development.

We must recognize that this isn't a zero-sum, "if girls win, then boys lose" world. Interest in our children's well-being demands that every child receive support, encouragement and the skills to make the most of new opportunities. An education that strives to provide a better world for girls is an education that also provides a better world for boys.

Educational success is not achieved solely by the gender of the teacher. The key to improving education in single-sex or coeducational schools is good teachers, whether male or female. Experienced teachers, good textbooks, smaller class sizes and modern equipment all work to influence how boys and girls do in class.

Furthermore, outstanding education for girls and boys effectively combines community, culture and a vibrant climate for learning. High standards are set, opportunities are explored, qualified role models are hired, and different approaches to teacher methodology for boys and for girls are investigated and acted upon to close the learning gap between all students.

We must not oversimplify the growing "boy crisis" concern in our classrooms by indirectly castigating the success of girls in education. To do so creates an unnecessary divisiveness and does a disservice to boys, girls and all those who seek quality and equality in education. In its essence, a child's education (boy or girl) requires universal support, encouragement, the skills to make the most of all available opportunities, and a recognition of what it takes in our diverse educational system to teach boys and girls to be the best each can be.

Betty White is the principal of Sacred Hearts Academy and is a Trustee of the National Coalition of Girls Schools. She wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.