DADvocate

Thanks to Instapundit, I found this article regarding boys' problems in schools. The problems:

Girls have opened a big gap over boys in reading and writing skills, and that gap grows wider the longer they are in school. In many high school honors and advanced-placement courses, girls outnumber boys five to one. Boys’ share of college admissions has dropped to 42 percent and is declining steadily. Boys also are responsible for 80 percent of school discipline problems. They are almost twice as likely as girls to be suspended from school, while four out of five high school dropouts are male. And their problems extend far beyond the classroom. Boys are considerably more likely to commit violent crimes and go to prison. The suicide rate for boys has tripled since the 1970s, and is now four to six times the rate for girls.

The differences are greater for blacks and Hispanics than for whites and Asians but the problems cross all racial and ethnic groups. The article discusses the possible causes which include developmental differences, feminism, lack of male teachers, teaching patterns that favor girls, boys not valuing "being smart," and more. Obviously a complex problem.

One possibility not mentioned in parental involvement. It seems reasonable that female headed single parent families would have greater potential for detrimental effects on boys than girls. Without a father present on a daily basis to be a role model and to provide direction and positive reinforcement, boys can more easily become "lost" in their quest to successfully become men.

Considering some comments left in response to a previous post regarding boys and reading skills concerning parental involvement and homeschooling, the completely obvious struck me. Homeschooled kids must be much more likely to live in two parent homes. With a little effort I found supportive evidence.

About 80% of homeschooled children live in a two parent home compared to 65% for others. 61% of homeschooled children have a non-working parent. Only 26% of others have a non-working parent.

Most of us believe that parental involvement in education makes a big difference. Homeschooling is the ultimate in parental involvement. More parents and especially more fathers present and dedicated to a lifestyle thatemphasizess education. In the article referenced in the previous post it was noted that in homeschooled children reading skills of boys and girls showed no significant difference.

We have bigger houses, more cars, more TVs, more of everything than our parents did. To finance all this consumption both parents have to work. After working, cooking, doing laundry, mowing yards, fixing household problems many parents are too tired to give their children the attention they need and deserve. Maybe we need to learn from history so we can repeat at least part of it.