In Devon, by the time they leave primary school, girls are on average nearly a year ahead of boys of their own age in English. (yr2000).
Although girls have always tended to do better than boys in some subjects the gap between boys’ and girls’ achievement is widening.
From the time they start to develop in the womb, boys and girls grow in different ways. At birth a girl is better geared towards language while a boy has a better judgement of distance and space.
Because of the nature of her brain, a girl is able to balance her emotions and thinking more effectively. In the boy’s brain, strong emotional feelings will actually supress clear thinking. You cannot reason with a boy when he is angry or upset, wait until he has calmed down.
A girl’s brain also allows her to do more than one thing at a time, whilst a boy is more single-minded. Girls can often work and watch T.V. A boy may only be able to concentrate on one thing at a time.
A boy’s heart is more powerful than a girl’s. Chemicals in the blood such as adrenalin can get to the muscles more quickly, giving him quicker reactions. It also means that a boy can get something ‘out of his system more quickly’. You can argue with a boy and be best friends in ten minutes, whilst girls tend to dwell longer on bad feeling.
It is true that there have always been differences between girls and boys. The problem is that the way we live and work is changing. In the past boys have been able to catch up with girls later in their school lives, but it seems this is not happening so effectively today.
In the past boys have had more chance to develop language skills. Mealtimes, organised family games and social occasions helped the boys to catch up with the girls. With television and computer games a boy does not have to use language as much as he did before.
As most if not all teaching involves using language to explore ideas and give information a boy is at an increasing disadvantage if he has not been able to develop sufficient language skills.
At Play! Boys’ games usually involve action, competition and skill. His interests are in exploring, finding out how things work, and ‘What will happen if…………..?’ Girls games often involve discussion and co-operation, which further develops their use of language.
At work! Girls are happy to support each other in work, but a boy finds it more difficult to accept help from others. He may think his friends see it as a sign of weakness. It has been said that boys who are helped at home out of sight of other boys, will do better back in class.
In society! Boys feel pressure to conform to ‘boyishness’. The male image they see is often rough and tough, Superman, without Clarke Kent, which may lead a boy to believe that it is not cool to do well at school.
Helping your child to develop language and social skills will give them a better chance to succeed at school.
Some suggestions are:
Think about the time your child spends watching T.V. or playing computer games. Things your child notices on T.V., video, and other mass media have a big influence on his ideas about what it is to be male. Very often you might get the impression that being male is about football and fighting. Look for positive male role models and talk about them with you child.
Try to show that ‘school is cool’ for boys as well as girls.
Other websites that may be useful: