News in Review The Gender Gap in Our Schools

In schools across Canada girls are outperforming boys. This has led to shifting enrollment patterns at universities: women now make up more than 50 per cent of students in overall enrollment and in professional programs such as law and medicine. Women are also making huge gains in engineering and the sciences, once almost exclusively male domains. Experts say the reason for this comes down mainly to reading. Girls today read more and with better comprehension than boys. The challenge for educators is to engage boys in reading. One way is to provide more male role models in schools by convincing more men to become teachers. Another method that has had some success is single-sex classrooms that provide reading materials particularly suited to the interests of boys.

• 2003
• 00:15:26
• 13-14
• Added on: 12/15/2003