One of the biggest issues K- 12 educators have noticed in recent years is the growing understanding space between boys and girls, in addition to the rise in communist politics in the classroom and the loss of learning caused by the Covid lockdowns. Girls are significantly more popular among kids in school admission because they have higher levels than boys and perform better on standardized assessments like the SAT and ACT. To add to the political fragmentation, this academic gap between the sexes is currently causing a crisis in relationship and family establishment, as most men and women struggle to find academic equals who can understand and support them.
Tom Sarrouf wrote an essay for the Institute for Family Studies next month about this problem. After articulating the issue of lads falling about, he concentrates on reading as the primary factor in this. In short, guys read far less than females, and this certainly hinders their academic growth and maturity.
Sarrouf contends that this could be corrected by giving students more boy-oriented reading assignments:” I propose a balancing of reading materials in schools exclusively targeted at boys.” In practice, this would include more fiction, especially in history and science groups, and fewer writings with female characters and less literature in public.
Russian-American author Katya Sedgwick counters Sarrouf’s emphasis on teaching more narrative by pointing out that this has already been covered in the curriculum of numerous courses and arguing that boys would truly benefit from reading more fiction, rather than less. She agrees that female characters are essential, which is why she suggests assigning more legends, which often feature compelling female figures. For younger audience, she highly recommends The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which is obviously much beloved in Russia.
Having made equivalent claims to those of both Sarrouf and Sedgwick, I believe they’re both right. But, I would go further in my outlook. As a father of young children who are learning to read in my high school English classroom, as well as as a father of them, I observe three main causes of boy literacy: ( 1 ) a propensity for boys coupled with subpar early reading instruction; ( 2 ) the proliferation of graphic novels in classroom libraries; and ( 3 ) the extreme absence of conflict and action in assigned texts.
The first issue, the discrimination against kids, is what sets the stage for the other two components. Many of them are left behind when studying training begins in school and first class because kids tend to adult verbally more after than women. Teachers introduce phonics and basic vocabulary during these crucial times to help children decode words on paper. Girls can learn and use these skills much more easily than boys, who still need a few more years for their brains to work this way because they are more cognitively advanced in this regard.
These reading abilities will eventually work for the boys and eventually catch up with the girls, but only if their teachers and parents stay with them. Too frequently, parents and teachers will arrive prematurely to the conclusion that their boys are weak readers, better suited to math and science, and most likely have a reading disability or ADHD. In the meantime, they will pay more attention to the girls, giving them texts they might enjoy, and encouraging them to develop as readers.
This effect gets worse over time. Students who are the “right” sex receive better instruction and more opportunities to practice reading and gain much more over time, much like the professional hockey players who were born in the right month and eligible for the best hockey camps early in life. Moreover, as the girls become better readers, they enjoy doing it more, thus compounding the difference between the sexes. When a child enters high school, it’s typical for girls to read books that are several grades ahead of their male classmates for fun.
In schools and classroom libraries, which are intended to be a gateway to non-illustrated books, this dynamic has resulted in the sudden ubiquity of graphic novels. Many of the comprehension abilities that come with regular reading are never developed, though because graphic novels are primarily image-based rather than text-based. Instead of using words to recreate characters, events, settings, tones, arguments, and themes in their minds, they can look at the pictures that already do this work for them. Although I enjoy the Wimpy Kid series, which has a lot of similarities to children’s books in elementary and middle school, I am aware that it shares more elements with a YA novel than it does with an animated cartoon.
Naturally, these two factors usher in the final factor, which is largely feminized reading selections for kids. The books assigned to or recommended to students typically have more female characters, longer chapters on the feminine condition, and a focus on relationships, identity, and feelings because girls are the primary audience at nearly all grade levels. As for action and suspense, such elements are usually present in the most popular books for young adults, but always within a greater feminine context, as with The Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent, or the Harry Potter series.
However, it is n’t enough to just promote books by male authors or featuring male protagonists. The books need to have a more masculine aesthetic as well as content. This means having a greater focus on action, conflict, and even violence, and a reduced focus on feelings and relationships. These books will appeal to boys while fostering those desperately needed reading comprehension abilities.
Not too long ago, this genre of books used to be popular, and many count as classics today. Author Michael Warren Davis once provided an excellent overview of adventure novels that should be required reading for educators looking to update their reading lists to aid their boys.
Of course, the modern parent and teacher might object that such literature, besides being too white and too male for “modern audiences”, might encourage violence, aggression, and male chauvinism. However, the reality is precisely the opposite: Such literature empowers boys and models constructive ways of channeling one’s masculine energy.  ,
In his essay,” Violent Media Is Good For Kids,” author Gerard Jones points out that stories about good guys defeating bad guys in fantasy worlds are empowering and necessary for healthy emotional development:” Through immersion in imaginary combat and identification with a violent protagonist, children engage the rage they’ve stifled, come to fear it less, and use it to face the challenges of life.”
Such an exhibition of power, male virtue, and self- control is simply not going to be present in books by Sandra Cisneros, Maya Angelou, or Amy Tan.
Even though the reading gap between boys and girls continues to grow and manifest in many different aspects of modern culture, it should give everyone hope that fixing this issue wo n’t be impossible. Every parent and teacher can do more to encourage boys ‘ reading, but doing so without jeopardizing the progress made by girls is not for everyone. In contrast, women would be more likely to be happier if there were more men who read and had better education.
Parents and teachers must celebrate that masculinity with the appropriate books, steer clear of the cheesy habit of promoting graphic novels, and believe in their boys ‘ overall potential as strong readers and stronger men overall.
