Opinion
Education Opinion

Gender Gap Study from Minnesota

By Richard Whitmire — June 15, 2011 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Stillwater wonders why boys lag behind:

While boys continued to show strong levels of academic achievement, the study found male students were more likely to fail classes and were far more often identified for special intervention programs such as Targeted Services. "Perhaps what we are seeing is a gender 'motivational' gap as boys appear to be choosing not to demonstrate their talents and skills in the classroom," Balow said. Reasons for the disparity between the genders are not certain. Most researchers agree that there is no difference in intelligence between males and females, so they look instead to factors such as peer pressure, classroom rules and expectations, and even teacher attitudes to explain the disparity.

The opinions expressed in Why Boys Fail are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.