In recent years, more and more people have been highlighting the need to focus on the unique needs of our boy readers and students. Test scores, grades, graduation rates, and college enrollments are all indicating a disparity between the sexes, and the ladies are definitely coming out ahead. Whitmire, an education writer for USA Today sets his scopes on trying to understand why the disparity is coming about and attempts to suggest ways that American schools can work to overcome the challenges our boys face.

His basic theory is that shifts in the way we teach is really moving us away from addressing the needs of our boys in the classroom. For example Whole Learning Theory has moved away from the use of phonics and breaking down knowledge into smaller sets of information to be consumed, which is a preference for the way the male mind works, to full immersion and allowing the students to learn through constant exposure. He also highlights how we are starting to teach reading and base skills at younger and younger ages and are now brushing up against the developmental limits of the male brain, which tends to stagger behind females over the course of childhood and adolescent.

As a result, boys tend to not want to study and read because they are not doing well and are frustrated for various reasons. This means they are often falling further behind as time goes by. The lag in statistics really causes a major difference starting in the middle school range and continues on from there. As a result, males are less prepared for successful college experiences, which are quickly becoming a requirement to compete in today's work environments.

In effect, we are handicapping our boys in the area of communication (both in reading and writing), which is becoming more important in the modern technological world. In fact, boys are disproportionately identified as having conditions, such as spectrum disorders and ADD/ADHD, that require a higher level of special education intervention.

What Whitmire seems most concerned about is the fact that America seems to be unwilling and unable to even recognize that there is a gender disparity, preferring to identify the causes of differences to issues like race, socioeconomic levels, and language barriers. Countries like Australia and Great Britain have both completed studies on the gender disparity that have allowed for approaches to compensate to be both developed and supported through funding and shared planning across districts. Meanwhile, America's Department of Education has done nothing.

Whitmire has done a wonderful job of using examples from schools in America and in Australia to both highlight the problems boys are confronted with and to show examples of schools that are attempting different programs to improve the educational experience of both boys and girls.

I really found this to be an interesting read. Those familiar with the writing of Michael Sullivan (Connecting Boys with Books: What Libraries Can Do) will find some of the theories and suggestions to be a little familiar. In a way, this almost seems to take the concerns to the next level because it highlights how the literacy limitations affect both overall academic success and lifetime career opportunities. This just seems like a must read for any educator, librarian, or similar person who works with young people.