Nicklaus O' Rourke, left, Noah Dobbiestamos and Owen Hakker play with an iPad. (Geoff Robins for The Globe and Mail)
Canada: Our Time to Lead
Failing Boys: Best of the series
Highlights of the week-long project, including most viewed articles, video and features, top-rated comments and poll results
Part 1: Failing boys and the powder keg of sexual politics
Compelling statistics show boys rank behind girls by nearly every measure of scholastic achievement, yet the phenomenon is as polarizing as it is puzzling
Part 2: The endangered male teacher
A new study says male elementary teachers live in a steady state of anxiety, with 13 per cent reporting they had been wrongly accused of inappropriate contact with students
Part 3: Are we medicating a disorder or treating boyhood as a disease?
Last year, more than two million prescriptions for Ritalin and other ADHD drugs were written specifically for children under 17, and at least 75 per cent of them were for young males
Part 4: Red-flagged as problem pupils, are boys misunderstood?
Viewed as too difficult to teach and too disruptive to control, the less help the male 'problem' pupil gets – especially in language skills and reading – the worse he does
Part 5: Is affirmative action for men the answer to enrolment woes?
In Canada's medical schools, the predominance of women is seen as another sign of how young men are falling behind academically
Part 6 Editorial: We can't tolerate failing boys
If women were still just 38 per cent of undergraduates, we wouldn’t tolerate it. If women were 64 per cent of high school dropouts, we would be up in arms
Video Debates Part 1: Are parents to blame?
Video debate: Before assessing blame, U of T's Kathleen Gallagher says you have to ask, 'what is our measure of success'?
Opinions, sidebars and web extras
Failing boys: What other countries are doing
A pedagogical smorgasbord of approaches has been tested around the world. In some cases, the gap between girls and boys is not even seen as such a bad thing
Why boys need extracurricular activities
There’s plenty of evidence, anecdotal and statistical, to suggest that many boys aren’t getting involved after the bell rings
16-year-old: I'm fatherless, black, but no 'failing boy'
One day, my mother went to the principal’s office and the two of them developed a battle plan, writes Haille Bailey-Harris
Designated scholarships overwhelmingly favour women
Female students can find scholarships for programs from engineering to voice training. Men best stick to sports.
We need tool-savvy teachers
Today’s typical math/science teacher is young and female – and has never held a wrench
Better tech, better technicians
Failing boys: The more we value our public infrastructure, the more we value those who build it
Five things teachers and parents can do to engage boys
Whether they're marching around the school identifying shapes, or taking nature walks to explore the great outdoors, getting children to be physical goes a long way toward helping them to focus in the classroom.
U.S. schools seek role models for boys
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan tells The Globe what he's doing to address high dropout rates of male pupils
Trading a video-game obsession for school books
First-year university student eased off Halo 3 and Warcraft after an intervention by a chemistry teacher and his concerned parents
Live Chats
Earlier Discussion
Live chat Monday: Failing boys and why we should care
Dr. Paul Cappon, president and CEO of the Canadian Council on Learning, and Globe reporter Carolyn Abraham took your questions
Earlier discussion
Missing male teachers
Education consultant Brett Lesley Cumberbatch took your questions
Earlier Discussion
Who's going to advocate for boys?
Child and adolescent psychologist Dr. Fred Mathews took your questions
Earlier
Time to lead discussion: Is 'failing boys' too simplistic a notion?
Education professor Wayne Martino took your question
Editor's Picks: Your Comments
- Instead of blaming whatever you think is responsible for a lack of role models, call your local Big Brother outfit and sign up. —Bad Lady on 16-year-old: I'm fatherless, black, but no 'failing boy'
- I'll get where I need to get on my own merit and through my own hard work. I wouldn't have it any other way. —Wasabi Jones on Part 5: Is affirmative action for men the answer to enrolment woes?
- We've looked at this problem for many years in Australia. Don’t give up on boys, and aim for high achievement! —Dr Peter West on Five things teachers and parents can do to engage boys
Interactives & Graphics
Interactive Graphic
Prescriptions for ADHD drugs by gender
Prescriptions for Ritalin and other ADHD drugs shot up to 2.9 million in 2009, a jump of more than 55 per cent in four years
Interactive
Five reasons why boys are failing
Five factors experts suggest have contributed to the growing academic achievement gap that separates girls from boys
The changing face of medical school
A sample of graduate photos from McMaster University over the years
How boys are falling behind girls
A survey of recent gender-based statistics on academic achievement, teachers, scholarships and more
In quotes: 'I live life on the edge every day I step into the classroom'
In a recent survey of 223 male elementary teachers, nearly 13 per cent reported they had been wrongly accused of inappropriate contact with pupils. Here's what some said
