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Interesting report, released today by the American Association of University Women, which says that the idea of a boys' crisis in education is so much bull. Being one of those women who struggled in school with math (because it did not interest me, or because I was given the idea that, as a girl, I would not be good at it?), I always read these statistic-laced reports with a Twain-esque hairy eyeball. Still, I find compelling the conclusion that the "largest disparities in educational achievement are not between boys and girls, but between those of different races, ethnicities and income levels." Likewise, I applaud the attempt by the AAUW to debunk the histrionic contention that academic gains made by girls in our schools have come at the expense of boys. But what to make of my visit yesterday to the Boston Day and Evening Academy, an amazing alternative high school in the city for kids who are overage for grade level and at high risk for dropping out. The school's enrollment is 55 percent girls, 45 percent boys—also 65 percent black and 27 percent Latino—despite the fact that boys drop out at much higher rates than girls. The gender discrepancy occurs across racial groups, but the gap between male and female dropout rates is higher for black students than for either whites or Latinos. (Not so for Asians, whose overall dropout rates are low). Boys in general may not be in crisis, but from my vantage point, black boys are. Girls didn't cause it. And, lord knows, girls still have their own battles to wage. But the more public schools I see, the heavier grows the plate of worry I carry around for my son. My daughter's plate pretty much stays the same.
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