Santa Clara University

What Boys Need

CPSY x982

Description

In the past few years, most major periodicals including Time and Newsweek have sported headlines suggesting that there may be a “Boy Crisis.” Dr. William Pollack wrote that boys are "scared and disconnected," "severely lagging" behind girls in achievement and self-confidence. Is there a "war against boys" as Christina Hoff Summers wrote?”

Whether it’s a full-blown crisis or not, there is no doubt that boys are falling behind girls in school and increasing in diagnoses of pathology. Why are girls over-represented in college today? Why are boys overwhelmingly over-represented in diagnoses of ADHD and Special education classes? Is it that pesky Y-chromosome, are girls, given equal opportunity simply better and smarter, or is it a shift in our culture that has made school and other realms somewhat inhospitable to boys?

In this presentation, Dr. Jerry Shapiro explores the new issues for boys and offers a host of solutions to the current problems. It is a workshop that serves both parents and teachers of boys. Among topics that will be discussed are how boys learn best, the “boys code,” myths of boyhood, the essence of and counters to bullying, how parents educate teachers and vice versa and how to avoid gender stereotyping of all our children.

Learn specific skills that will work with boys. Dr. Shapiro particularly focuses on what mothers and fathers can do to counteract the socially-induced deficits, including learning how to better talk so boys will listen, providing more boy-centered learning experiences and an enhanced role for fathers. The core of the presentation is to develop more effective ways to reach our sons, while still honoring our daughters’ experiences.

Instructor