WHY BOYS NEED MORE TLC- 

Dr. R, Rubadeau, Phd
Superintendant of Schools
Central Okanagan School District #23

Some time in the second week of September, 735 neat and tidy little boys
began their thirteen year journey through the Central Okanagan School
system.  They are joined by 765 immaculate little girls and 1500 anxious
mothers; the latter sharing many of the same fears, hopes and dreams for
their precious offspring.  On the well-scrubbed face of it, these new
primary students will have remarkable similarity.  They'll all be about five
years of age, certainly they'll all be cute, and, most importantly, they
will survive their parents to become the inheritors of our future.  But
while similar in many ways, these students are by no means equal.

By the end of the next school term, 45 of the boys will be referred for
speech and language therapy, 10 will be referred for psychological
assessment, 10 will be discussed at school-based team meetings with regard
to their aggressive behaviour, and 25 will fall short of the developmental
milestones required to learn to read the following year.  The girls, on the
other hand, will fare significantly better, as less than 20 of the 765 will
be considered "at risk" for learning in their first year of education, or
will be in need of student support services.

That boys experience particular difficulty in school is of no great surprise
to most educators, but does cast some serious doubt on society's perception
that gender equity actually exists.  And while quality programs are in place
to assist reluctant, immature or dysfunctional learners, no amount of help
will fix the inherent developmental distance between the maturational rates
of young boys and girls.

Years from now, a proportion of these little boys will come to experience
difficulty with other aspects of our system as they become reading or
behavioural casualties.  In adolescence these boys will be five times more
likely to drop out of school than the girls, will be six times more likely
to engage in criminal activity than the girls, and, if caught, will be
fifteen times more likely than the girls to be convicted or incarcerated.

As for our 765 girls, throughout their school career they will lead the way
academically, athletically, socially and emotionally, and in the Year 2006,
will dominate provincial exams and the scholarship pool.  Increasingly, they
will find their ways into careers that were once the bastion of the male
population.  In 2007, some of our boys will begin to "close the gap" as they
gain some needed maturity, but few boys ever acquire the "well-rounded"
social, emotional and academic behaviours of their female counterparts.

Some time ago, our world began abandoning the view of females as incapable
Pollyannas; ill prepared for the rigors of work and life outside the home.
This movement is both long overdue and much welcomed by this writer.  But
along with this movement came a belief that males and females are equal in
more than just a legal sense.  My heart would like to believe it, but I know
that every shred of developmental research on children says "it ain't so".

For those moms and dads with little boys; take some advice from a father and
an educator; give them some extra T.L.C..  In comparison to girls, they will
have a harder time at school, will make less progress with age, and may even
be tougher to love as they get older.  They'll refuse to sit still, will
disdain many social customs, and may even cause you incurable heartache.
But without your support, these young men, deprived by gender of the social
and academic gifts of their sisters, will fail to take their rightful place
in both school and, later on, as citizens of our community.  They will
require both unequal treatment and unequal opportunity if we ever expect
them to be equal contributors to society.

Dr. R, Rubadeau, Phd
Superintendant of Schools
Central Okanagan School District #23