U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talks to The Globe and Mail's Kate Hammer about why boys are falling behind south of the border, and what can be done to close the gap between genders in the classroom. Teachers, he argues, will be central to addressing this problem and he and his staff are looking at ways to recruit male minorities to teaching.
There is some debate, given that men earn more and hold more positions of power, as to whether boys are really falling behind. Do you think that in the United States the achievement gap between genders is a legitimate concern?
It's absolutely a legitimate concern. In the United States you have, particularly in the inner cities, far too many young men dropping out, far too many of those who have dropped out end up getting locked up. And life prospects, job prospects are about zero when you're a high school dropout. So how we engage them, how we keep them interested in school, how we get them to care about their long term futures is hugely important. These are international issues; it's interesting how similar the problems are and how similar the solutions can be.
What can be done to address it?
There's never one thing … I would argue it's as early as third grade, or frankly as early as kindergarten when teachers know exactly who are the boys, the young men at risk … So I'm a huge believer in early intervention, so whether it's additional tutoring, whether it's mentors, whether it's role models, schools can't do this alone …We don't have enough men and enough men of colour in our classrooms, particularly in our elementary schools. And I would go to some of my elementary schools in Chicago and there wouldn't be a single male there. I think all of our children need a variety of role models and mentors, but particularly our young boys and our young boys of colour. In the U.S. today, less than 2 per cent, less than one in 50 of our teachers is a black male. If you put black males and Latino males together it's about 3.5 per cent of our teaching work force. That's simply not good enough.
What are you doing to improve those figures?
One of the things … is a national teacher recruitment campaign to bring in the next generation of teachers. And we're going to particularly focus on bringing in teachers of colour and men of colour. So getting those role models in there is hugely important. And secondly, … really at the high school level, really making the work engaging, really doing things that motivate boys and give them a sense of what's positive, giving them a sense of their potential is hugely important. Certainly myself, I struggled to sit and listen to a teacher lecture for an hour.
What age was that?
[Laughs]. For me it was all the way through. Really, you need hands-on work … It's a different way of teaching, it's a different way of engaging students. The final two things I would say is that you have to have every child, boy or girl at risk with an adult in their lives who they can go to for help … And the final thing I'd say about high school today is [students need] a real sense of what's possible after high school. So there has to be some reason, some connection, whether it's a job, whether it's a career, whether it's going to college, you have to give all students, particularly young men, a sense of why are we doing this activity, what does this mean for my life? And so I think it's a lot, because there isn't one easy answer, but I think all those things together, when done well, give you a chance to dramatically improve outcomes for young men.
