the mid-atlantic equity center, 2006 website: what is the impact of “boys will be boys”? susan...

The Mid-Atlantic Equity Center, 2006 website: www.maec.org

What is the Impact of “Boys Will Be Boys”?

Susan Shaffer and Linda Gordon

The Mid-Atlantic Equity Center - 2006 Annual Conference“Promoting the Achievement of Culturally Diverse Young Males”

March 24, 2006


I. The Trouble with Boys


A. Boys are often labeled as “hyperactive,” “aggressive,” “or in need of control.”

B. This disconnect is worse for African American and Latino boys -- who are often looked at as being insurmountable problems that “can’t be fixed.”

C. Shift this perspective from “fixing the boys” to fostering resiliency.

D. This debate often pits girls against boys and sets it up as a win/ lose situation, blaming boy’s failures on the attention paid to girls.


Boys vs. Girls


II. Traditional Concepts of Masculinity Affect Boys Both in School and Outside of School

• Interferes with boys’ forming a positive identity• Ability to achieve to their full potential • Resist peer pressure and popular culture • Form and sustain positive relationships • Become resilient and connected men • Boys of color must combat the negative stereotype

that being black or brown and masculine does not match up with being smart and going to school.


How Do the Media and Popular Culture Define “Authentic”?

• Violence becomes part of the definition of masculinity.

• Media constructs violence as a cultural norm.


Consequences of a Violent Culture and Traditional Concepts of Masculinity

• Boys are responsible for 9 out of 10 alcohol and drug violations at school.

• High school boys are much more likely to be involved with crime and violence on school property than are girls:

– Three times as many boys as girls carry weapons to school.

– Twice as many have been threatened or injured with weapons at school.

– Twice as many have been in physical fights at school.


Consequences of a Violent Culture and Traditional Concepts of Masculinity (cont’d)

• In general, African American and Latino boys are more likely than other boys to be involved with crime and violence on school property.

• Within the nation’s 75 largest counties in 2001, 92% of juveniles who appeared before the criminal courts were male. Two-thirds of the juveniles who appeared in adult criminal court were African Americans.


Consequences of a Violent Culture and Traditional Concepts of Masculinity (cont’d)

• An African American boy born in 1991 stands a 29% chance of being imprisoned at some point in his life, compared with a 16% Latino boy and a 4% chance for a white boy.

• Young African American men are more likely to be in jail—or otherwise in the court system—than go to college.

• Teenage boys are five times more likely than girls to commit suicide, even though girls are more likely to attempt suicide. Although white males have the highest rate (60%), the suicide rate for African American boys has doubled during the last 20 years.


What ideas do you have about strategies that may work to mitigate this rigid masculine code?


III. Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Language and Culture Are

Significant Variables in Development and Learning


How Do Race and Gender Impact the Self-Definition of Boys?

A. Our schools and culture discourage African American and Latino boys from academic or intellectual self-expression.

B. Boys of color can develop what Comer and Poussaint call an oppositional identity. Cultural discontinuity affects attitudes and expectations.


The Impact

• The drop out rate for African American males in many metropolitan areas is 50%.

• African American boys are 8.6% of the public school population and 41 % of the students in special education.

• Boys feel pressure to choose between involvement in their own culture and the greater (white) culture (“acting white”).

• African American and Latino boys are tracked into lower level academic programs.

• Boys of color suffer from lower expectations; they are vulnerable to peer pressure and anti-social behavior; and they make decisions that are harmful to themselves and others.


IV. Current Climate in School

By almost every benchmark, boys across the nation and in every demographic group are falling behind:

• Schools have a shortage of male teachers, only 21% are male and they are mainly at the high school level.

• Boys think school presents obstacles designed to frustrate them and they are aware of being treated more harshly by teachers and parents for the same things that they see their sisters and girlfriends doing.


Current Climate in School (cont’d)

• Certain Asian groups suffer from the “model minority” stereotype. Dropout rates for schools with large concentrations of Southeast Asians (Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, and Hmongs) are approximately 50%.

• Boys earn lower grades and participate in fewer advanced placement classes than girls.

• Boys in grades four through eight are twice as likely as girls to be held back a grade, and the rate is even higher for boys of color.

• Boys constitute 71% of school suspensions, particularly boys of color in urban schools.



• Boys lag behind girls in reading and writing.

• Boys are four times more likely to be referred to a school psychologist and nine times more likely to be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD; estimated at one in six boys ages 5-12.

• There is a greater lack of unity between minority parents and students and teachers in school, and families often feel unwelcome.



• These academic gaps open up early and are very substantial by fourth grade.

• These K-12 deficiencies have more to do with who gets into college than in college performance. At present the ratio is 57-43% female/male. Among the African-American population the ratio is about 2-1.


V. Impact of the Change from an Industrial Economy to an Information

and Service Workforce on Boys.


VI. Emotional Intelligence

Protects Boys


A. Healthy psychological development is typically marked by progressive acquisition and integration of new skills and qualities.

B. In contrast, traditional male socialization reflects a process of disconnection marked by successive “disavowing” and loss of qualities essential to boys’ emotional and psychological well-being.

C. The lack of emotional connection is often mixed with a sense of privilege, power, and entitlement that stems from traditional masculine ideals.

Emotional Intelligence Protects Boys


D. Boys often are not taught the language of feelings. They frequently use the expression of anger to show frustration, sadness, rejection, and other emotions.

E. Understanding the language of feelings helps boys to distinguish between anger and other emotions.

F. Understanding their inner lives empowers boys; it does not make them weak.

Emotional Intelligence Protects Boys (cont’d)


Why do boys in our culture develop their masculine identity in opposition to what they think is feminine?

Why does expressing emotions put them in jeopardy of losing face?

How can we help parents to regain their power and connection to their sons?


Suggestions

• Educators and families need to work together to provide our boys with the skills they need to connect with their feelings and channel their anger into productive alternatives.

• Learning empathy is the best antidote to violent behavior.

• ???


VII. Take Home Messages


Strategies for Educators: A Baker’s Dozen -- Working Together to Ensure the Success of ALL Boys

1. Be mindful of your own biases. Resist the suggestion that boys in our schools are seen as problems “to be fixed.”

2. Create a culture that focuses on the development of children.

3. Have high expectations of all boys.4. Value the importance of communication and connection

with boys. Teach the language of feelings.5. Help African American and Latino boys to imagine their

own greatness.6. Do not present boyhood as a proving ground. 7. Enforce class rules consistently.


Strategies for Educators: A Baker’s Dozen -- Working Together to Ensure the Success of ALL Boys

8. Learn to find the teachable moment; learn boys’ signals. 9. Select the best teachers to work with the students most in need. 10. Encourage and support parental and family involvement.

Make the school a welcoming place for all families.11. Keep in mind that many boys are themselves targets of sexual

harassment—often in the form of taunts challenging their sexuality. This “culture of cruelty” is as destructive to boys as it is to girls.

12. Support courageous leaders who are open to the truth, make changes that are needed, and use best practices to build and sustain success.

13. Consider that good teachers are patient teachers. If you keep boys engaged, you keep boys out of trouble and never forget the power of example!


ReferencesClayton, M. “Gender Gap Is Far from Academic for Colleges.” Christian Science Monitor 22 May 2001.Gilliam, W. S. “Prekindergartners Left Behind: Expulsion Rates in State Prekindergaren Programs.”

Foundation for Child Development, Policy Brief Series (3), May 2005.Justice Policy Institute. “Cellblocks or Classrooms? The Funding of Higher Education and Corrections

and Its Impact on African American Men.” 18 Sept. 2002, www.justicepolicy.org/article.php?id=275. McManis, S. “Breaking the ‘Boy Code’: New Movement Advocates Adapting Schools and Society to

What Works for Boys.” San Francisco Chronicle 13 July 2003.National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center. “Youth Suicide Fact Sheet.” 2002, www.safeyouth

.org/scripts/facts/suicide.asp. Newkirk, T. Misreading Masculinity: Boys, Literacy, and Popular Culture. Portsmouth, New Hamshire:

Heinemann Books, 2002.Smith, R. “Building a Positive Future for Black Boys.” American School Board Journal, Sept. 2005.Smith, R. “Saving Black Boys.” The American Prospect, Inc. 15 (2), February 1, 2004,

www.prospect.org/V15/2/smith-ro. Shaffer, S. and L. Gordon. Why Boys Don’t Talk and Why It Matters: A Parent’s Survival Guide to

Connecting with Your Teen. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Nation’s Report Card. http://nces

.ed.gov/nationalreportcard/nde/ 2005.U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and

Health Promotion, Division of Adolescent and School Health. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2002.

U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2003 with Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans. Table 63. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2003.

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. National Crime Victimization Survey: Young Black Male Victims. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2002.

http://www.justicepolicy.org/article.php?id=275





http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/facts/suicide.asp



http://www.prospect.org/V15/2/smith-ro

http://www.prospect.org/V15/2/smith-ro

http://nces.ed.gov/nationalreportcard/nde/









the mid-atlantic equity center, 2006 website: what is the impact of “boys will be boys”? susan...

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