by Alwyn Poole

The great Neil Postman wrote a remarkable book called Amusing Ourselves to Death. It is at least as predictive as Orwell’s 1984 or Huxley’s Brave New World.

Across every school qualification for leavers in NZ – girls do significantly better than boys – the gap at University Entrance is never less than 10%.

Having taught at two boys’ schools (Tauranga Boys College and Hamilton Boys High School) and at St Cuthbert’s Girls College I am confident at asserting that we have very low expectations for boys in English and bore them to academic death with what we provide.

The Guardian tells us that in Britain (considerably ahead of NZ in education at present):

“Fewer than one in 10 boys aged 14 to 16 in the UK read daily, according to research, which found reading for pleasure was being crowded out of teenage lives by schoolwork, screens and sports.

While reading declines for both boys and girls in early adolescence, there are “signs of recovery” among girls in later teenage years, but boys’ engagement remains persistently low, according to the National Literacy Trust (NLT).”

As opposed to thinking that boys and girls are basically the same – we need to get back to understanding that there are fundamental differences – even if on a sliding scale.

It is one thing to have plan to have more children technically able to read … of far greater importance is that they actually read. It is the same with riding a bike; who cares if you can techically dribble down the road – if the machine sits in the garage 99% of the time.

What is the NZ plan to get boys reading?

As I have noted before – the book list proposed by English Curriculum lead Elizabeth Rata gives the deep impression that it is what she read as a child (MANY years ago) and fits with her specific worldview. I can assure you that what is detailed here would send any testosterone filled young man into deep despair.

There are a massive amount of great books that include adventure and challenge. I bought up three children who became outstanding academics and are thriving as adults. They could read well before they started school and “phonics” would have bemused them. One of the great occasions was when the oldest was reading The Battle of the River Plate. We worked out that there may well be sailors alive at the time from the Achilles and discovered that the gunnery officer lived in Devonport. My 11 year old son then sat entranced as he heard the full story of the battle first hand. This far exceeded the effect the Shakespeare’s sonnets could ever have had.

All of the current curriculum design continues to enforce the downward trends. Mutton dressed as ham.

Originally published on Education…The Absolute Best Ways.