The statistics are startling: Girls have been surging ahead academically from the elementary years right on up through Graduate School while boys seem to be falling behind and are becoming disengaged from learning at an early age. We take a look at the latest thinking on this subject and whether the picture is as dire as it’s often presented.
Guests
- Thomas Mortenson, Senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education. He has been studying how various groups are faring in education and the workforce for decades and began taking a closer look at how boys were doing in the 1990s when it became clear to him that they were struggling.
- Michael Thompson, psychologist, school consultant, and author or co-author of eight books, including the New York Times bestseller, "Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys and the more recent, "It's a Boy!: Understanding Your Son's Development from Birth to Eighteen .
We'll also hear from
- Rosalind Chait Barnett, a senior scientist at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University and co-author of "Same Difference: How Gender Myths Are Hurting Our Relationships, Our Children, and Our Jobs” abd "The Truth about Boys and Girls: challenging toxic stereotypes about our children.”
