If Reading is so Important...Why are we Failing Our Boys? |
You might guess that boys don't read as much as girls. You might even think that's just the way boys are. Research consistently shows they have lower reading skills and a
worse attitude about books. The most recent studies come from the United Kingdom. At age seven, there's already a gender gap of 7 percent fewer boys than girls reading at the expected level. By age 11, it's 8 percent; by age 13, the gap has increased to 12, and in high school it reaches 14. And that's for the boys who
have not dropped out of school. Last year the United States dropout rate reached its highest level in nearly 40-years and more boys quit than girls in every state in the nation. But it's wrong to think poor reading is inherent in boys, and there's much we can do to help boys read more and better. For one, we can help
boys discover that reading is fun. They may not gravitate to novels like girls, but there are many new and exciting reading materials to interest boys of all ages. See lists by topic here. Librarians are excellent at knowing what books appeal to boys, and they're up-to-date on the reading options. That's
their job. I should say, used to be their job. The pandemic loss of school librarians due to budget cuts in the last five years means boys have very little help in finding something they might enjoy reading. I was incredibly demoralized when we lost the battle for librarians in my kids' school district. I cannot imagine
attending a school without a librarian. It's like a car without headlights. And no spark plugs. A fifth grade teacher in Forth Worth, Texas, Donalyn Miller, motivates her middle school students to read 40 or more books a year. "I'm invited to speak in schools that want to improve their test scores, but the kids don't have books to read and parent volunteers run the library. They don't get it.... "...The manner in which schools institutionalize reading takes this love away from children. As instruction becomes limited to test-taking drill and kill, we are slowly strangling the joy of reading out of students, and without quality instruction in how to read well, we are narrowing their possibilities as readers forever." Anthony Horowitz writes books that many boys devour. His series ALEX RIDER about a teenage spy has sold 12 million copies worldwide. Anthony says, "I can tell you if a school has a good library five minutes after entering it... It is in the eyes of the
kids." We didn't have a school librarian in my elementary school, but the public library was housed in our school building, and classes made regular trips down the hall to use it. Mrs. Orr, the librarian was one of the strongest pillars in my childhood. I wish every child had someone like her just down the hall. Was there an important librarian in your life? What can we do to help kids, especially boys, find something to read that will help instill a lifetime habit? Click here for a beautiful story about how to approach a boy about a book. The survivor of the Bataan Death March I introduced you to earlier this month has died and will be laid to rest today in Oklahoma. Phillip Coon of the Muscogee Creek Nation, was a machine gunner in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked in 1941.
After the surrender of the Bataan in April 1942, he was among the tens of thousands American and Filipino POWs forced to march more than 60 miles in the heat without food or water. Thousands died on the march, many of them brutally executed. Mr. Coon suffered unimaginable conditions in POW Camp O'Donnell, Cabanuan and the Japanese "hell
ships".
I found Mr. Coon to be a gentle, good-humored man and quite a storyteller. He survived and labored in coalmines in Japan, and worked on the death burial detail for his fellow
soldiers. About one in three of the POWs surrendered on Bataan & Corregidor survived the three and a half years before liberation in 1945. Mr. Coon died at 95. Another of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor died earlier this month. James Cecil Collier passed away June 5. A week before, Jim had gathered with a group of friends who met for the annual ADBC reunion San Jose, CA.
Jim's father let him join the army at 16. He was part of the U.S. Army 59th Coast Artillery defending Corregidor Island at age 17 when the United States surrendered the Philippines to the Japanese.
Jim survived inhumane conditions as a
prisoner-of-war in camp Cabanatuan and as a forced laborer at Clark Field before he was to Japan on the hell ship Noto Maru in August 1944.
Arriving in Japan, Jim slaved feeding iron ore into the open hearth furnace at the Nagoya-6B-Nomachi (Takaoka) camp for the Hokkai Denka Company. Today the site remains in the ferroalloy business as Takaoka Works. Jim, who weighed 150 pounds when he joined the army, weighed 110 when liberated after the surrender of Japan in 1945.
After the war, Mr. Collier became a high school teacher and counselor in California. He especially enjoyed a five-year stint at Hartnell College, counseling the many
returning Viet Nam vets. "[Jim] believed strongly in education. He was very proud that he had overcome the privations of his youth in the Appalachian Virginia coal country," according to his obituary. This next week, I'm off on my last PURE GRIT promotion trip for awhile. Click here for my book talk schedule. After that I have to get back to work. This next book is not going to write itself. Thanks for joining me today. Hope you have a great
weekend. Please forward this newsletter to someone you think might enjoy my writing. I will never spam you or sell your email address, you can unsubscribe below anytime with a single mouse click. If you'd like to get your hands on a copy of PURE
GRIT, here's the place! If you'd like a signed copy and I'm not coming to your neighborhood soon, let me know. I can send you a personally autographed book or a signed
bookplate. To find out more about my books, how I help students, teacher and librarians, visit my website at www.MaryCronkFarrell.com. My best, Mary Questions? Comments? Contact me at MaryCronkFarrell@gmail.com. Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. |
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