Boys In Crises: It may still be a man’s world. But it is no longer a boy’s. From his first days in school, an average boy is already developmentally 2 years behind girls in reading and writing. Yet he’s often expected to learn the same things in the same way in the same amount of time. While every nerve in his body tells him to run, he has to sit still and listen for almost 8 hours a day. Biologically, he needs about 4 recesses a day, but he’s lucky if he gets one. Today 70% of special ed students are boys. High school boys are 30% more likely to drop out than girls, 85% more likely to commit murder and 4-6 times more likely to commit suicide. The female-to-male ratio is already 60-40 at many leading universities. Now, in every state, every income bracket, every racial and ethnic group, and most industrialized Western nations, women reign, earning an average 57% of all BAs and 58% of all master’s degrees in the U.S. alone. There are 133 girls getting BAs for every 100 guys¾a number that’s projected to grow to 142 women per 100 men by ’10. Today a young man is more likely than he was 30 years ago to end up in the new and growing class of underachiever. (Business Week Online 5/15/03)
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