The Problem With the AAUW Report
Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog
Today, the American Association of University Women has released a report called “Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in Education.” Those who are familiar with the debates surrounding gender equity issues in education will probably recall that it was another AAUW report (this one called “How Schools Shortchange Girls”) that launched the new conversation about the Girl Crisis in the early to mid-1990s. That same report was also strongly criticized by Christina Hoff Sommers’ (and others) for both its methodology and conclusions. Just trying to give some background here.
Anyway, the new report includes an attempt to downplay or debunk the Boy Crisis–mostly by focusing on socio-economic factors and by talking about trends while ignoring the ever-present achievement gaps. Yes, the same old same old at work again. Still, because of the source and the potential for controversy, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the AAUW report get a fair amount of attention. This is our chance to confront those whose political agenda rests on denying the Boy Crisis and get some much needed truth into the discussion. So, if you see a news article, report, etc. on the AAUW report, please contact the paper, station, website, or whatever to let them know that there’s another side to the story. Here are some thoughts to keep in mind:
–There continues to be a significant gap between boys and girls in a number of areas, especially college attendance and reading and writing assessments. (For example, boys are about 13 points behind in reading and 18 points behind in writing by twelfth grade, according to Department of Education figures based on national assessment tests. For more measures of boy performance, check out the fact sheets in our Facts and Research section.)
–While factors like race, parental education level, and income obviously affect the size of the achievement gap between boys and girls in this area, the gap still persists across socio-economic barriers.
–There is no need to set up this kind of conflict between boys and girls. Both have different, though important, educational needs, and nothing is gained by trying to downplay the problems that either of them face. There are problems enough for us all.
Good luck, and be sure to share (by email or comments) any of your responses. Thanks for helping us get the word out!
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