In some ways this is not a surprise, loads of anecdotal data and shrewd on-the-hoof analysis said as much: "'It is self-evident, not only in secondary, but also in primary schools, that some boys go to considerable lengths to protect their macho image and their sense of self-worth by indulging in a range of non-conformist behaviour which frequently prevents them and others in the same classes from achieving well.'"
However it is helpful to have it demonstrated by a thorough study. Interesting how the wheel turns. BUt it is the fact that boys are now starting to lose out educationally that means that we need to help plot against the factors that tend to turn them against co-operative behaviours. The whole thing about feminisation of the workplace because the skills that are increasingly needed in the globalising world are skills to do with community building rather than competition is significant, particularly when we realise that the whole world is built on symbiosis more fundamentally than competition.
I'm still wrestling in my own mind with what this means for spirituality, particularly the quest for a male approach to spirituality and personal growth that is male and not a pale copy of something that clearly works for women but not for men. Of course that begs all sorts of questions about innateness, cultural formation, sexism and so on, but we have to do it or we will end up with an overload of disaffected males, and that is bad news for good order in society.
EducationGuardian.co.uk | News crumb | Boys-only classes will improve lagging results, says report: [:gender:]
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