Why are boys academically underperforming? [audio]
I taught in public schools and studied pediatric ADHD. From those experiences, I found boys had a number of disadvantages. First off, they are more motor-hyperactive, they move, fidget, get out of their chairs: their very neurochemistry develops differently, making them less adept at the &quot;sit still and write notes&quot; aspect of school.<p>This isn&#x27;t &quot;bad parenting&quot; or &quot;overdiagnosis of ADHD&quot; by the way, the brain of a young male develops differently, specifically their pre-frontal cortex (executive function, how to behave&#x2F;regulate oneself) develops much slower, whereas the motor-neural cortex is overly developed, relative to girls.<p>Beyond any developmental difference in the sexes, there&#x27;s culture. Where I taught, the South and West sides of Chicago, any troubled boy was more likely to join a gang, sell drugs, commit violence, etc. These poor boys could be jumped and beaten for living on the wrong street. One student was having anger issues, his cousin got killed, he had latent anger issues which prevented prioritization of school work. Another common issue: his father is gone, he&#x27;s switching homes constantly, there&#x27;s no stability to facilitate the slow, incremental progress that is school and learning.<p>Beyond sheer dangerous problems like the above, I&#x27;d say boys channel their effort into sports and gaming more, whereas the girls I taught were more concerned with social circles, popularity, social media, etc. Question, do we think gaming is &quot;better&quot; for mental health than social media? If so, boys may be advantaged, I recall my boy students used their Chromebook to play this bubble game where their bubbles had to chase and eat other students&#x27; bubbles: very benign and strategic.<p>There is a change that happens around puberty, when I was in seventh grade I noticed it acutely. Students transition from caring what their authority figures think (teachers&#x2F;parents) to caring what their peers think (friends). This leads to a degradation in class morale, unity, and overall drive and focus to follow the teacher&#x27;s lesson. It was crazy that the 5th graders could stare at me doe-eyed as I explained volcanoes and robotics, but the 7th and 8th graders just zoned out on their hidden phones (god, that&#x27;s a huge issue as well) or incessantly talked to one another.<p>Edit: There&#x27;s a bit of discussion of &quot;overdiagnosis&quot; or &quot;misdiagnosis&quot; of ADHD. This is a complex issue, but I will say I don&#x27;t think anecdata is constructive here. By blaming bad parenting or video games or candy, we ignore the reams of data which show that many children can not focus and struggle MIGHTILY due to this.<p>Children with ADHD have less friends, less academic success, more likelihood to abuse drugs, like alcohol, marijuana, cocaine&#x2F;nicotine (their dopaminergic system is uniquely vulnerable to stimulants). This is a sad trajectory for these kids, and I think we should consider carefully before we blanket accuse the medical system of overdiagnosis or misdiagnosis.