Taking a Look at Boys and Education

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Recommended: the importance of being literate

Boys are often raised to have a competitive outlook in life, because it is the norm in society. High school boys aren’t usually interested in reading; they need books more appealing to them such as a book about war. Boys are expected to compete and do their best at sports and extracurricular activities rather than education. Due to the lack of push to compete educationally they more times than not end up being left behind.

Boys in high school are less interested in reading because they feel the books they are required to read tend to appeal more to the girly side of things. The textbooks and literature assigned do not reflect the dispositions of the male students. When my brother was in high school he was required to read Romeo and Juliet and he had a really hard time getting through it because it simply did not appeal to him at all. There is a big gap between the two genders when it comes to the percentage of those that enjoy reading. The numbers tend to go down as years pass, for women it went from 63% to 59% not too big of a drop where as for the boys it plummeted from 55% to 43%. I believe that the women’s percentage is larger because when they are in high school most books appeal to them and so they are more interested in reading them where as for the males they haven’t ever really been interested in books and so it is much harder for them to get into a book in general because they have never really been into books.

Boys are expected to be competitive at everything they do or be invisible. Usually people want to be known, they want everyone to know their name and what they have accomplished but that doesn’t happen for everyone. For boys if you don’t play sports or aren’t part of something very known you are expected to just...

... middle of paper ...

...not that boys are more competitive than girls but that boys and girls are competitive about different things. It’s not 100% a gender thing it is the influences that are put upon both boys and girls. The outside influence of others usually teachers or parents that have the most influence on the children. Boys need more attention when it comes to education and girls need that extra push or influence for when it comes to extracurricular activities.

Works Cited

Bauerlein, Mark and Sandra Stotsky. “Why Johnny Won’t Read.” The Language of Composition.

1st ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2008. 408-410. Print.

Walker, Rebecca. “Putting Down the Gun.” The Language of Composition. 1st ed. Boston:

Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2008 412-414. Print.

Hulbert, Ann. “Boy Problems.” The Language of Composition. 1st ed. Boston:

Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2008. 414-417. Print.

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