The Minds of Boys

Whats going on inside your sons brain? Author Michael Gurian has a good idea and gives advice to parents, teachers, and Scouters on how they can improve boys chances for success in both school and life. The boys in Mrs. Gutierrezs math class are moving around on the floor, shifting in their seats, and stretching across their desks to get a better look. And nobodys yelling. Monica Gutierrez is no disciplinary softie. She teaches at the Regis School of the Sacred Heart in Houston, an all-male Catholic school that follows the principles described in a new book, The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life, by Michael Gurian with Kathy Stevens (Jossey-Bass, 2005). The boys in her fifth-grade class are taking turns pacing off measurements on a segmented line on the floor. The goal is to help them conceptualize the metric systemand to present the material in a way thats suited for their male brains. A little extraneous individual movement is allowed, too, as long as it doesnt distract the other students. When the body is moving, the information is more likely to lodge in the brain, especially for males, Gurian explains, observing the classroom on a recent visit to the school. Movement also helps them to concentrate. Sitting still is often anathema to the male brain. BOYS LEARN DIFFERENTLY THAN GIRLS Gurian has written a number of books about the needs of young boys and their emotional health, including his seminal book, The Wonder of Boys: What Parents, Mentors and Educators Can Do to Shape Boys Into Exceptional Men (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1997). Now hes turning his attention to the ways boys learn. At the heart of Gurians theory: Boys learn differently than girls learn because boys brains are wired differently. Culling research from the emerging study of gender science, Gurian believes that conventional approaches to education are often mismatched to boys brains and learning styles. And these differences arent just educational curiosities, Gurian argues; they are the source of a crisis in boys academic performance. According to the U.S. Department of Education, boys are behind girls in reading and writing skillsan average of a year to a year and a half. Plus, boys account for the majority of poor grades and disciplinary problems in schools. (See Did You Know? sidebar.) Unfortunately, these are not problems that males grow out of or easily leave behind in elementary school. Gurian thinks thats why 80 percent of high school dropouts are boys and only 45 percent of college students are males. He has written: The question becomes, should we keep trying to change our boys, or should we change the educational system in which they are now taught? The Regis School is taking the latter approach. We contacted The Gurian Institute [a Coloradobased training division Gurian and his associates founded in 1998] and said, We want to be the state-of-the-art school for your principles, said headmistress Anne Storey Carty. BOY-FRIENDLY LEARNING So Regis became the first Gurian Institute Model School. Every staff member has undergone training, and the boy-friendly educational methodology has been incorporated into all grades. The methodology ranges from simple techniqueslike offering Nerf balls to squeeze during class to help students quietly keep their brains engaged through physical motionto creatively incorporating an array of sensory experiences to boost learning and retention.

In Spanish class, for example, the teacher doesnt rely on just vocabulary drills and written exercises. The class occasionally holds a restaurant day in which the boys serve Tex-Mex food with menus and waiters, all in Spanish. The idea is to incorporate as many different sensory experiences as possiblegustatory, tactile, auditory, visual, and olfactory, Gurian says. The more senses involved, the more likely theyll retain the material. But parents and Scout leaders dont need a Gurian-trained school in the neighborhood to reach the minds of young boys. By understanding key differences and applying male-friendly approaches to learning, adult mentors can help boost a boys chances for success. Gurian says that research into the physiological differences between male and female brains suggests that:
Scouting allows boys to succeed in an honorable and meaningful group.. Boys tend toward more impulsive risk behavior. Boys dont learn as well as girls when sitting still or being sedentary. Boys are more likely than girls to attach their learning to physical movement. Because theres more crosstalk between the two hemispheres of their brains, most girls are better at multitasking than boys. Boys pick up less of what is said in words and need more sensory-tactile experiences to learn well. Boys need more time to memorize material, especially written material. Boys brains revert more quickly into a rest state. In laymens terms, theyre quicker to doze off or zone out.

Having the research to confirm what weve sensed all along was helpful, headmistress Carty said. By adjusting the schools educational approach to better reach boys, Carty said, Regis students are learning more quickly and behaving well, and teachers are better equipped to know how to handle boys needs. SCOUTING HELPS BOYS SUCCEED Gurian says that many activities in Scouting naturally fit the male learning style. Boy Scouts work on projects, often in apprenticeship relationships that fit boys learning styles particularly well. And, he says, Scoutings character-driven approach appeals to boys natural need to prove themselves and to act heroically. Scouting is a healthy way to do all these naturally male things in an emotionally safe environment, says Gurian. Thats especially important for middleschool age boys. At that age, he says, boys will seek an honorable, meaningful group to associate with, and without one, boys often hook up with gangs. Here are some other boy-friendly approaches that parents or Scout leaders can employ when leading activities or helping a boy learn: Find appropriate ways to work off physical energy and keep the brain stimulated. Use movement to reinforce any kind of learning, especially verbal and written material. Use vertical mentoringhave older Scouts help the younger Scouts. Use lists when giving instructions or teaching material. Boys have list-making brains, Gurian says.

 Find ways to incorporate reading and writing into program activities with The Boy Scout Handbook and troop newsletters or Web sites. Have Scouts prepare speeches and reports for appropriate merit badges. Beyond instructional techniques, parents and other adults should always reinforce the importance of doing well in school, Gurian adds. The fact is, males need success in school, he says. Success in school is closely linked to success as a husband and a father. And failure in school, he believes, explains in part why males represent a majority of the homeless population and most of the prison population. THE HEROISM OF HOMEWORK Gurian likes Scouting programs that promote literacy, such as the Wolf Cub Scout Books, Books, Books elective and the Boy Scout Reading merit badge. He also praises the fact that publications like Boys Life, with quality, age-appropriate fiction and other boy-focused material, reinforces the message that reading is enjoyable and important. He encourages Scout leaders to appeal to boys heroic instincts, to emphasize the heroism of homeworkthat is, to reinforce the message that doing your homework is a sign of personal responsibility, and its an issue of meaning and honor. For boys who dont perform well in school, he says, homework is often the missing link. Gurian sees a little bit of that heroism in the Regis School, when a small boy bravely volunteers to go to the front of the classroom to tackle a tricky alphabetization exercise. He makes a mistake, then tries again and gets the right answer. Praising the boys stick-to-itiveness, the teacher asks, Did he mope? No! the boys reply. Did he cope? the teacher asks. Yes! the students say. Gurian beams. Inside every boy there is an educational hero who is trying to flourish, he says. Every boy can learn if his education is well cared for.
-Mary Jacobs is a Dallas, Texas, freelance writer From the November-December 2005 issue of Scouting magazine

DID YOU KNOW?

Boys get the majority of the Ds and Fs in most schoolsin some, as high as 70 percent. Boys make up 80 to 90 percent of disciplinary problems. Of children diagnosed with learning disabilities, 70 to 75 percent are boys. Of children diagnosed with behavioral disorders, 80 percent are boys. More than 80 percent of schoolchildren on Ritalin or similar drugs are boys. As of 2004, the number of boys on Ritalin approached five million.
Source: The Minds of Boys

BRAIN HEALTH FOR BOYS

Two physiological stressors on a boys brain development can directly compromise his daily learning: compromised nutrition and too much screen time. (These can affect girls, too, but they further exacerbate boys learning differences.) Heres Michael Gurians advice in these areas: Nutrition: Gurian poses three nutritional questions: Is my son getting enough water? Is my son getting enough protein? Does my son eat too much sugar? Water intake is important because thirst increases cortisol levels, which can thwart a boys concentration. Within five minutes of drinking plain water, cortisol levels can decrease. Similar studies suggest that protein enhances thinking, while too much sugar and refined carbohydrate consumption has the opposite effect. Gurian advises parents to encourage their boys to drink plenty of water and to cut sugary breakfast cereals. He encourages adding eggs, cheese, or peanut butter to the morning menu. Screen time: Too much time spent with nonmotor brain stimulants like TV, videos, and computers is linked with attention deficit and other difficulties. Thats because young brains develop brain bypasses in key development areas, such as attention centers, with too much screen time. The passive stimulants of TV, videos, and computers do the attention work for the brain, Gurian explains. Thus the brain doesnt have to learn how to do it organically. The answer is to limit the time your boy spends in front of a screen, paying close attention to the video games he plays and the DVDs and TV shows he watches. Helping our boys succeed in school and in life requires each of us to manage screen time with more vigilance than we may do currently, Gurian has written. On school nights, Gurian advises parents to restrict screen time to no more than an hour, and then only after homework, family time, and athletic activities are completed. If a boy is not finishing his homework, parents should cut out TV and video games entirely on school nights. Its O.K. to loosen up a bit on the weekendsperhaps two hours a daybut only if it doesnt interfere with plenty of physical activity and family time. Other guidelines include no TV in the boys bedroom or in the car, and no computers with unsupervised Internet access before high school age. In terms of content, Gurian says hes not as alarmed as some about reasonable quantities of time spent with certain types of video games that involve violence; aggression play is part of a boys nature, he says. But those must be balanced with plenty of character and moral development. As a resource for quality boy-oriented books and movies, he offers a list of recommended titles in a book he co-authored with Terry Trueman, What Stories Does My Son Need? A Guide to Books and Movies That Build Character in Boys (Penguin Group, 2000), and in the appendix of his book The Good Son: Shaping the Moral Development of Our Boys and Young Men (Penguin Group, 2000).