Way back in November of 2010, Laura Scholes published an interesting study in The International Journal of Learning, in which she critically examines the Boys-Are-Failing panic.
She says the gender gap panic has dominated educational policy agendas in western nations since the 1990s, and it is largely a result of simplistic projections cast on an entire homogenous population of all boys that label them as illiterate failures, and similar projections on a homogenous population of all girls that label them as successes.
She says, "This homogenizing of boys and girls as binary and oppositional groups distorts social justice principals that advocate supporting and valuing differences between students... The construction of boys as a disadvantaged group has tended to position all boys as educationally disadvantaged..."
And people buy into it.
Scholes' study is long. I'll be talking about it more, particularly because I have some speaking engagements this year dealing with the topic of boys, reading, and writing.
But one of the most compelling elements in her study identified what she called "Clandestine Readers" -- a group with a near 3-to-1 ratio of boys to girls, who were tested meeting or exceeding grade-level requirements for literacy, and who also were identified as having high levels of enjoyment in reading, but concealed their passion for reading because their peer groups tended to be unsupportive or had negative feelings about reading.
Wow.
Do you know any Clandestine Readers?
I see them, dozens of them, every day.
More to follow.
8 comments:
Growing up (and I was a teen in the 90s, so this applies) I was definitely a clandestine reader. Almost a ninja reader. If it related to fantasy, or anything that was labeled as faggy by the troglodytes, I would never read it outside my own bedroom. Masculine stuff, like the Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy I enjoyed at the time, was considered okay.
I don't see that as being as much an issue today among the teen guys I know, but it could easily be that the kids I know are the wrong sample.
Reading should not have to be clandestine. The only time I was a clandestine reader was when I was in class and not paying attention to the stuff I had already learned.
I adore the word clandestine.
I do not adore the notion of needing to read clandestinely.
I was embarrassed by my love of reading as a teen, but I still did it. I read Ella Enchanted for a seventh grade book report. It was considered a girl book, but I focused on the giants and sword-fighting and had half the guys reading the book by the end of the week.
I know this is not your point, but whenever I the "achievement gap" between boys and girls is mentioned, I immediately start thinking about the real achievement gap in the US - the one between whites and non-whites. If people think some middle-class thirteen year old in the suburbs is being failed by our public school system, they need a reality check. And there are several million of those enrolled.
The only guys I knew that were not clandestine readers were guys labeled as nerds or geeks back when I was in school. I can definitely see where this term comes from.
And still, why? Odd that with all the things we do to impress exceptionalism upon kids that such a thing doesn't apply to the Joe Schmo boy to find as much joy in reading a book as he does in beating a football related record.
Jon, you are so fucking awesome. Have you seen the documentary, Waiting for Superman?
I agree with Matt, Jon. You fucking rock!
I know quite a few Clandestine Readers with whom I work every single day. I am just now beginning to discover their literacy, and it all fits with who they are as people. The reason so many of them adore RAP music (rhythm and poetry) is because it amps their love of words. It makes being in love with words cool within their group of friends, a demographic that listens to what most people consider trash.
I have been enlightened by the teens I work with, and it makes me a better and more precocious reader as a result. Which, I must admit, has transformed me into a better and more challenging writer.
Hot-button topic for me. More boys have checked out books from my classroom library than girls.
My Sci-Fi/Fantasy Club at school consists primarily of boys who read voraciously. I know this because we talk and watch movies. My room is a safe place for them. My concern and anger arise from the fact that my boys, and all students, should be safe to be exactly who they are wherever they are.
Kristen, I am right there with you!
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