Boys today are experiencing trouble in early education that affects them throughout their academic career and beyond. Because of these issues, the average boy is likely to fall behind girls in a handful of different subjects. Though prominent issues in education appear for young boys and girls alike, many boys in elementary school are discouraged by the school system, and sometimes subconsciously by their teachers, to read, which in turn forces them to make up for their inefficiency in the English language by pushing themselves to excel in the math/science subjects. This overcompensation of skills usually results in either an unstable ego, lower test scores, or both. Numerous studies show how boys in elementary school fall behind girls in terms of reading capability. The same studies also show that the school system is not properly helping the boys catch up. Peg Tyre, a writer who primarily targets education, focuses on a study in…show more content… This compensation can result in wounded grades, an even greater sense of self-depreciation, or in some cases, the polar opposite: a very high sense of inflated self-appreciation. “...too many boys who overvalue their abilities remain in difficult math and science courses longer than they should; they pull the boys’ mean scores down…” (7434) explains Michael Kimmel, a sociologist specializing in gender studies, in his article entitled “Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.” Because boys convince themselves that they are capable of taking high-level courses, their ego could spike. That spurt of self-admiration, however, can come to an abrupt end when receiving their first test scores, sending them right back to a state of low self-esteem. This cycle can lead boys to feeling like a failure not only in English/reading, but now math/science, and it leads back to when they entered elementary
