Hopeful Girls, Troubled Boys

Submitted by Judith Kleinfeld
Phone: (907) 474-5266
05/17/05

Judith Kleinfeld, professor of psychology and director of the Northern Studies Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Liberal Arts, will bring three internationally known researchers to Alaska to discuss how to raise boys’ academic achievement. The panel will present practical strategies in a public discussion on issues facing boys in school, Monday, May 23 at 4:30 p.m. in the boardroom of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District offices at 520 Fifth Ave.

Researchers and education professionals are seeing a new phenomenon, which has been dubbed "Driven Girls and Directionless Boys."

"After decades of attention to the problems of girls, the math and science gap has nearly closed," said Kleinfeld. "But schools have made little progress in closing the much larger gap in literacy skills that favor girls. Alaska has the dubious distinction of having the second highest gender gap in the nation in college success."

The discussion and forum has particularly urgent relevance to teachers and parents concerned with how to raise boys’ achievement and why they may not like school or do well.

Molly Warrington is a lecturer at the University of Cambridge. In collaboration with Michael Younger, she directs the research project "Raising Boys’ Achievement," which is designed to increase test scores and literacy.

Leonard Sax is an expert in the biology of sex differences and their implications for how boys and girls are raised and educated. Male and female brains differ in the way they respond to movement, sound, color and texture, Sax points out. These differences affect how boys and girls direct their attention in the classroom. His book, "Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of Sex Differences," has been featured on The Today Show and in numerous other national and international television and radio programs.

This event is made possible by funding from the UAF Office of the Vice Provost for Research, the College of Liberal Arts Northern Studies Program and the UAF Graduate School.

Kleinfeld is also teaching a one-credit course, Gender and Education 593, for teachers and parents interested in the education of boys.