Readers Report
The Widening Gender Gap
Being Smart Isn't Macho
Wow. Michelle Conlin could have used a picture of my son's high school graduation ceremony yesterday to illustrate "The new gender gap" (Cover Story, May 26). Approximately 400 seniors were graduating from a school in a middle-to-upper-middle-class suburb of Denver. The grads were seated according to sex, and it was clear there were at least 20% more girls than boys. Then, the proud principal asked all students with grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher to stand. Whoosh -- up stood almost 80% of the girls, while only about 25% of the boys stood. Of the nine students with GPAs of 4.0, seven were girls and two were boys. My high-IQ, low-GPA son sure has a lot of company.
Ginny Orndorff
Arvada, Colo.
As the father of three boys and one girl, I thank you for an article that confirms the reality of what our family encounters daily as we pursue educational and social opportunities for our sons. Our sons have had excellent teachers who understand gender differences and will tailor their approach to teaching. But even so, there have been times when we have had to stand behind our sons and be their best advocates.
Andrew Clarkson
Mount Vernon, Ohio
I'm a teacher and father of one of the girls in the photo on the first page of the article. Boys mature later, have few good role models, watch too much TV, and play too many video games that reinforce their poor behavior. We live in a society where sports are overemphasized, where being smart is not macho, where boys are too often allowed to misbehave with the excuse "boys will be boys," where getting something for nothing is a life goal. Society is ruining a generation of boys and then asking schools to fix the problem. The problem starts at home. The solution must start there, too.
Gary Wilson
North East, Md.
As a society, we are now doing to boys what we have foolishly done to girls since the dawn of recorded history. Are we incapable of learning from our mistakes? A capital article.
Robert de Jong
Vineland, N.J.
Ritalin Isn't the Answer
I am 14, so I don't know everything, but I am about the age where people's lives are determined by what happens now. I just read your story on the gender gap. As much as I hate to admit it, it is true. Males are falling behind in school. We are no longer motivated, and we figure things just aren't worth the time. It is awesome that women have come so far and done so well. But if females got a lot of support when they were behind, males should too. I don't think the answer is special education or Ritalin -- just different classes and teaching methods to encourage us to do our best. There has to be a better way to work with us.
Joe Allee
Vancouver, Wash.
I am an 11-year-old girl, and for a long time I have noticed that the girls have done better in school than the boys. I have never noticed or heard anything about classrooms being "girl-oriented." In my experience, it is not the teachers' or schools' misunderstanding that has brought the boys down the wrong path. It is the fact that they simply don't care about their grades. A lot of boys in my grade care more about being the class clown or a sports superstar than being a star student.
Hannah Landsberger
Caldwell, N.J.
Education Helps Everybody
There is a growing group of boys' schools (International Boys' Schools Coalition, which my school belongs to) addressing issues raised in your article. As the former head of an all-girls school, I was pleased you suggested that efforts to address boys' needs need not take away from the progress made in educating girls in the past 20 years. Our intention is to apply the same vigor to the issue of educating boys.
Olen Kalkus
Founding Headmaster
Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart
Princeton, N.J.
In the past, elementary school teachers (still predominantly women) were recruited from a richer talent pool of women (who during that era would be less likely to pursue careers in law, accounting, medicine, etc.). Candidates were willing to take on the extra challenge of teaching boys. Experience with my two (now teenage) boys bears this out. On balance, only the older elementary teachers exhibited a clear ability and willingness to work effectively with my energetic but intelligent boys.
David Atkinson
Pelham, N.Y.
School environments were actually more structured in the past, when boys enjoyed dominance across the board.
Teri L. Consoldane
Yigo, Guam
I really appreciated the emphasis that better education makes both genders better off.
Nathaniel Dempsey
St. Louis
The Boomers Are to Blame
As for boys becoming "the second sex": What else could any reasonable human being expect after 35 years of ridicule, indifference, contempt -- and gargantuan betrayal by the white liberal upper-middle-class baby boomer males who deserted not only their own manhood in the face of the ridiculous feminists but also their sons? The emblem for these "men" is a big white feather.
Gus Owens
Mount Holly, N.J.
Women are not paid as much as men. They are much less likely to run companies (especially technology companies). Girls are finally being pushed to achieve their potential, while boys are slacking off. It is my worry that this article will create increased ignorance among the people who think that women fighting for equal rights should "shut up and stop whining." It is my fear that you have reached such people and created a document for them to point to falsely and say: "See? Women's lib has gone too far. They are taking over."
Harriet Smith
Baltimore
Nextel Didn't Need to Lower the Bar
In a letter headed "AT&T Wireless' controversial bonus plan" (Readers Report, May 26), referring to "AT&T Wireless: A bad call by the board" (BusinessWeek Investor, May 5), Adele Ambrose of AT&T Wireless (AWE
) was incorrect in stating that "all wireless companies had to revise their earnings and customer-growth targets" last year. Nextel Communications (NXTL
) did not revise its earnings and customer-growth targets. Nextel met or exceeded them.
Adam Parnes
Corporate Communications
Nextel Communications
Reston, Va.
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