The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life by Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens


A teacher's review

Published in 2005.

More informative than Boys and Girls Learn Differently, The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life is a fascinating look into the specific reasons why boys are doing so poorly in school nowadays. Very, very awful if you did not know - Boys are the overwhelming majority of special education students, are more likely to drop out, and are much less likely to attend college.

Gurian's strategies to help come off as a bit vague - few concrete solutions are offered. As a teacher, I want to know what a 'boy-friendly' classroom looks like. Precious few good examples are provided. But, enough information is provided to at least alert the teacher that there is a problem and that he or she needs to be on the lookout for struggling boys. I would imagine, like most things in education, the answer is not simple and it requires quite a bit of individualization, which is difficult if, like me, you see upwards of 200 kids in the course of a day.

 Read as a companion to Christina Hoff Sommers The War Against Boys. It lacks her hard edge but it is very informative.

 I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

 This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life.

 Reviewed on July 27, 2006.

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