Girls doing well while boys feel neglected, research finds
‘Boys are blamed for everything’, complained a 14-
year-old, representing the negative view of school
that seems to be having such a bad effect on boys’
exam results.
‘It was a myth that girls perform poorly at school’,
said Dr Smith, whose research of a high school
elicited the 14-year-old boy’s comment. Boys are
the problem.
The boy also complained: ‘Girls are treated a lot
better and get first choice of equipment and task.’
Reflecting the national results, the girls at this
school have done consistently better at GCSE
(exams at age 16) than the boys, although the gap
has narrowed.
Dr Smith said some schools should take credit for
implementing equal opportunities policies which
had reduced discrimination against girls. They now
had to tackle boys’ under-achievement and
disengagement, although Dr Smith admitted that
it was a complex problem to which he did not have
any easy answers.
He and Dr. Warrington, his fellow researcher from
Cambridge, found that boys felt they were unfairly
treated or neglected in class, although teachers
and the majority of girls disagreed.
Staff said boys went to considerable lengths not to
appear smart – for instance, denying to classmates
they had done homework even when they had, or
playing up in class. They saw boys as unable to
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GROUP ACTIVITY - READ TEXT ABOVE & THEN:
1.Identify the fact, 2. Find explanation(s) for the fact, 3. Think of any other possible
explanations not mentioned, 4. Either say which explanations you think is most plausible
and why; OR what further evidences are needed to decide which explanation is most
plausible.
concentrate or organise themselves and lacking in
motivation.
Girls tended to be more focused, and study was
not seen as bad for their image. Parents and
teachers agreed that girls did more homework,
while boys saw it as something to be done as
quickly as possible.
Seventy per cent of girls thought female teachers
treated boys and girls equally; only 46 per cent of
boys agreed.
A majority of all the students surveyed thought
male teachers were biased towards girls. They
accepted behaviour from girls, which they
punished in boys.
A 11th grade girl agreed that girls were treated
more leniently by male teachers. ‘The girls have a
reputation for being well-behaved, so if, for
example, they don’t do their homework they
won’t get told off as much.’
Boys from the same year complained that they got
less attention from male teachers than the girls
did.
Girls had clearer goals, said Dr Smith, which led
them to focus on their work. Some boys had no
idea what they wanted to do after GCSE, and
several had no idea what later courses to take.
(Adapted from Guardian News & Media Ltd 1995)
[Text and questions from Thomson 2002. Critical
Reasoning. A Practical Introduction. Routledge.]