I’m not sure this is the right approach, but …
… I’d to see the U.S. Department of Education at least acknowledge the gender gap problem. The governments in Britain, Australia and New Zealand have been all over this issue for years. They haven’t solved the problem, but at least they’re trying.
Here are the first three graphs:
Boys aged three and four must be made to write more to stop them falling behind girls before they even reach school, the Government will order nurseries and childminders.
New boy-friendly guidance is to be sent to all nurseries and childminders advising them to get the youngest boys to take more interest in writing, scribbling and drawing - basically just putting pencil to paper.
After a year of school, more than one in six boys cannot write his own name or simple words such as “mum”, “dad” or “cat” - double the number of girls - official figures show.
Tags: england
December 30th, 2009 at 9:13 am
I think this quote from the article says it all: “Child-development specialists have opposed the writing targets for five-year-olds since they were first proposed, arguing that many children, particularly boys, do not develop the fine motor skills needed for writing until they are six or seven.” Once again, this is an argument for not starting boys in any sort of formal schooling until they are 6 or 7. And since there is apparently no reason to hold back 4 and 5 year old girls, it is an argument for gender separate education, although some girls might benefit from starting later as well. They could be educated in a third, but much smaller, system. You don’t want to start them early and set them up to fail. You want them to succeed whenever they start.