WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 So I'm here to tell you 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:04.000 that we have a problem with boys, 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.000 and it's a serious problem with boys. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.000 Their culture isn't working in schools, 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:11.000 and I'm going to share with you 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:14.000 ways that we can think about overcoming that problem. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.000 First, I want to start by saying, this is a boy, 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:19.000 and this is a girl, 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.000 and this is probably stereotypically 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:23.000 what you think of as a boy and a girl. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:25.000 If I essentialize gender for you today, 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:27.000 then you can dismiss what I have to say. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.000 So I'm not going to do that. I'm not interested in doing that. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:32.000 This is a different kind of boy and a different kind of girl. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:35.000 So the point here is that not all boys 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:37.000 exist within these rigid boundaries 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:40.000 of what we think of as boys and girls, 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.000 and not all girls exist within those rigid boundaries 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.000 of what we think of as girls. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:47.000 But, in fact, most boys tend to be a certain way, 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.000 and most girls tend to be a certain way. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:52.000 And the point is that, for boys, 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:55.000 the way that they exist and the culture that they embrace 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:57.000 isn't working well in schools now. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.000 How do we know that? 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.000 The Hundred Girls Project 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:04.000 tells us some really nice statistics. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.000 For example, for every 100 girls that are suspended from school, 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.000 there are 250 boys that are suspended from school. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.000 For every 100 girls who are expelled from school, 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.000 there are 335 boys who are expelled from school. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:18.000 For every 100 girls in special education, 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.000 there are 217 boys. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.000 For every 100 girls with a learning disability, 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.000 there are 276 boys. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:27.000 For every 100 girls 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:29.000 with an emotional disturbance diagnosed, 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.000 we have 324 boys. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:34.000 And by the way, all of these numbers are significantly higher 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:36.000 if you happen to be black, 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:38.000 if you happen to be poor, 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:41.000 if you happen to exist in an overcrowded school. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.000 And if you are a boy, 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.000 you're four times as likely 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:48.000 to be diagnosed with ADHD -- 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.000 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.000 Now there is another side to this. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:57.000 And it is important that we recognize 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:59.000 that women still need help in school, 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.000 that salaries are still significantly lower, 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:04.000 even when controlled for job types, 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.000 and that girls have continued to struggle 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.000 in math and science for years. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:10.000 That's all true. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.000 Nothing about that prevents us 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:14.000 from paying attention to the literacy needs 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:16.000 of our boys between ages three and 13. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:18.000 And so we should. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.000 In fact, what we ought to do is take a page from their playbook, 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:23.000 because the initiatives and programs 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.000 that have been set in place 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.000 for women in science and engineering and mathematics 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:29.000 are fantastic. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:31.000 They've done a lot of good 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:33.000 for girls in these situations, 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:35.000 and we ought to be thinking about 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.000 how we can make that happen for boys too 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.000 in their younger years. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.000 Even in their older years, 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:43.000 what we find is that there's still a problem. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.000 When we look at the universities, 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000 60 percent of baccalaureate degrees are going to women now, 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:50.000 which is a significant shift. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:52.000 And in fact, university administrators 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.000 are a little uncomfortable about the idea 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:56.000 that we may be getting close to 70 percent 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.000 female population in universities. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.000 This makes university administrators very nervous, 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.000 because girls don't want to go to schools that don't have boys. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.000 And so we're starting to see the establishment 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.000 of men centers and men studies 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.000 to think about how do we engage men 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.000 in their experiences in the university. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:17.000 If you talk to faculty, they may say, 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:20.000 "Ugh. Yeah, well, they're playing video games, 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:23.000 and they're gambling online all night long, 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.000 and they're playing World of Warcraft, 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.000 and that's affecting 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.000 their academic achievement." 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.000 Guess what? 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.000 Video games are not the cause. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.000 Video games are a symptom. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.000 They were turned off a long time 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.000 before they got here. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.000 So let's talk about why they got turned off 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.000 when they were between the ages of three and 13. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:48.000 There are three reasons that I believe 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.000 that boys are out of sync 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.000 with the culture of schools today. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.000 The first is zero tolerance. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.000 A kindergarten teacher I know, 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.000 her son donated all of his toys to her, 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:03.000 and when he did, she had to go through 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:06.000 and pull out all the little plastic guns. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:09.000 You can't have plastic knives and swords and axes 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.000 and all that kind of thing 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:13.000 in a kindergarten classroom. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:16.000 What is it that we're afraid that this young man is going to do with this gun? 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.000 I mean, really. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.000 But here he stands as testament 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:24.000 to the fact that you can't roughhouse on the playground today. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.000 Now I'm not advocating for bullies. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:28.000 I'm not suggesting 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.000 that we need to be allowing guns and knives into school. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.000 But when we say 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 that an Eagle Scout in a high school classroom 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:37.000 who has a locked parked car in the parking lot 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:39.000 and a penknife in it 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:41.000 has to be suspended from school, 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:44.000 I think we may have gone a little too far with zero tolerance. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.000 Another way that zero tolerance lives itself out is in the writing of boys. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:49.000 In a lot of classrooms today 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:51.000 you're not allowed to write about anything that's violent. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.000 You're not allowed to write about anything 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.000 that has to do with video games -- these topics are banned. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.000 Boy comes home from school, and he says, 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.000 "I hate writing." 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.000 "Why do you hate writing, son? What's wrong with writing?" 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.000 "Now I have to write what she tells me to write." 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:08.000 "Okay, what is she telling you to write?" 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.000 "Poems. I have to write poems. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.000 And little moments in my life. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.000 I don't want to write that stuff." 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.000 "All right. Well, what do you want to write? What do you want to write about?" 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:20.000 "I want to write about video games. I want to write about leveling-up. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.000 I want to write about this really interesting world. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:25.000 I want to write about a tornado that comes into our house 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:27.000 and blows all the windows out 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.000 and ruins all the furniture and kills everybody." 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:31.000 "All right. Okay." 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:33.000 You tell a teacher that, 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:36.000 and they'll ask you, in all seriousness, 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:39.000 "Should we send this child to the psychologist?" 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:42.000 And the answer is no, he's just a boy. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.000 He's just a little boy. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.000 It's not okay to write these kinds of things 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.000 in classrooms today. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.000 So that's the first reason: 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000 zero tolerance policies and the way they're lived out. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.000 The next reason that boys' cultures are out of sync with school cultures: 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.000 there are fewer male teachers. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.000 Anybody who's over 15 doesn't know what this means, 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.000 because in the last 10 years, 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.000 the number of elementary school classroom teachers 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.000 has been cut in half. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:09.000 We went from 14 percent 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:11.000 to seven percent. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.000 That means that 93 percent of the teachers 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.000 that our young men get in elementary classrooms 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.000 are women. 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:19.000 Now what's the problem with this? 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.000 Women are great. Yep, absolutely. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:24.000 But male role models for boys 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.000 that say it's all right to be smart -- 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.000 they've got dads, they've got pastors, 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.000 they've got Cub Scout leaders, 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.000 but ultimately, six hours a day, five days a week 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.000 they're spending in a classroom, 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:37.000 and most of those classrooms 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.000 are not places where men exist. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:42.000 And so they say, I guess this really isn't a place for boys. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:44.000 This is a place for girls. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.000 And I'm not very good at this, 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.000 so I guess I'd better 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:51.000 go play video games or get into sports, or something like that, 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:53.000 because I obviously don't belong here. 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:55.000 Men don't belong here, that's pretty obvious. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.000 So that may be a very direct way 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:59.000 that we see it happen. 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:01.000 But less directly, 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.000 the lack of male presence in the culture -- 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:06.000 you've got a teachers' lounge, 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.000 and they're having a conversation 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.000 about Joey and Johnny who beat each other up on the playground. 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:13.000 "What are we going to do with these boys?" 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:16.000 The answer to that question changes depending on who's sitting around that table. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.000 Are there men around that table? 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.000 Are there moms who've raised boys around that table? 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.000 You'll see, the conversation changes 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:25.000 depending upon who's sitting around the table. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:28.000 Third reason that boys are out of sync with school today: 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:31.000 kindergarten is the old second grade, folks. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:34.000 We have a serious compression of the curriculum happening out there. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.000 When you're three, you better be able to write your name legibly, 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.000 or else we'll consider it a developmental delay. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.000 By the time you're in first grade, 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.000 you should be able to read paragraphs of text 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.000 with maybe a picture, maybe not, 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:49.000 in a book of maybe 25 to 30 pages. 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:51.000 If you don't, we're probably going to be putting you 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:53.000 into a Title 1 special reading program. 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:55.000 And if you ask Title 1 teachers, they'll tell you 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:58.000 they've got about four or five boys for every girl that's in their program, 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.000 in the elementary grades. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.000 The reason that this is a problem 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.000 is because the message that boys are getting 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.000 is "you need to do 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.000 what the teacher asks you to do all the time." 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:14.000 The teacher's salary depends 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.000 on "No Child Left Behind" and "Race to the Top" 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:18.000 and accountability and testing 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:20.000 and all of this. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.000 So she has to figure out a way 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.000 to get all these boys through this curriculum -- 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:27.000 and girls. 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:29.000 This compressed curriculum is bad 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:32.000 for all active kids. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.000 And what happens is, 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.000 she says, "Please, sit down, 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.000 be quiet, do what you're told, follow the rules, 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.000 manage your time, focus, 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:44.000 be a girl." 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.000 That's what she tells them. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.000 Indirectly, that's what she tells them. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:51.000 And so this is a very serious problem. Where is it coming from? 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:53.000 It's coming from us. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:56.000 (Laughter) 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.000 We want our babies to read when they are six months old. 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:01.000 Have you seen the ads? 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:03.000 We want to live in Lake Wobegon 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:06.000 where every child is above average, 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:09.000 but what this does to our children is really not healthy. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.000 It's not developmentally appropriate, 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.000 and it's particularly bad for boys. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:15.000 So what do we do? 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.000 We need to meet them where they are. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.000 We need to put ourselves into boy culture. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.000 We need to change the mindset 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:26.000 of acceptance in boys in elementary schools. 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:30.000 More specifically, we can do some very specific things. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.000 We can design better games. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:34.000 Most of the educational games that are out there today 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.000 are really flashcards. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.000 They're glorified drill and practice. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:41.000 They don't have the depth, the rich narrative 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:43.000 that really engaging video games have, 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:45.000 that the boys are really interested in. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:47.000 So we need to design better games. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.000 We need to talk to teachers and parents 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.000 and school board members and politicians. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:54.000 We need to make sure that people see that we need more men in the classroom. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.000 We need to look carefully at our zero tolerance policies. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.000 Do they make sense? 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.000 We need to think about 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.000 how to uncompress this curriculum if we can, 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:05.000 trying to bring boys back into a space 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:07.000 that is comfortable for them. 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:09.000 All of those conversations need to be happening. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:11.000 There are some great examples out there 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.000 of schools -- 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:15.000 the New York Times just talked about a school recently. 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:18.000 A game designer from the New School 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.000 put together a wonderful video gaming school. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:24.000 But it only treats a few kids, 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.000 and so this isn't very scalable. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.000 We have to change the culture and the feelings 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.000 that politicians and school board members and parents have 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:33.000 about the way we accept and what we accept 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:35.000 in our schools today. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.000 We need to find more money for game design. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.000 Because good games, really good games, cost money, 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.000 and World of Warcraft has quite a budget. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.000 Most of the educational games do not. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:46.000 Where we started: 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:49.000 my colleagues -- Mike Petner, Shawn Vashaw, myself -- 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:51.000 we started by trying to look at the teachers' attitudes 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:53.000 and find out how do they really feel about gaming, 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.000 what do they say about it. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.000 And we discovered 00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.000 that they talk about the kids in their school, 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:01.000 who talk about gaming, 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:03.000 in pretty demeaning ways. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:06.000 They say, "Oh, yeah. They're always talking about that stuff. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.000 They're talking about their little action figures 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.000 and their little achievements or merit badges, 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:13.000 or whatever it is that they get. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:15.000 And they're always talking about this stuff." 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:17.000 And they say these things as if it's okay. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.000 But if it were your culture, 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.000 think of how that might feel. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:23.000 It's very uncomfortable to be on the receiving end 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:25.000 of that kind of language. 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:27.000 They're nervous about anything 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:29.000 that has anything to do with violence 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:31.000 because of the zero tolerance policies. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.000 They are sure that parents and administrators will never accept anything. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.000 So we really need to think about looking at teacher attitudes 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:40.000 and finding ways to change the attitudes 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.000 so that teachers are much more open 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:45.000 and accepting of boy cultures in their classrooms. 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:47.000 Because, ultimately, if we don't, 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:50.000 then we're going to have boys who leave elementary school saying, 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.000 "Well I guess that was just a place for girls. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.000 It wasn't for me. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:57.000 So I've got to do gaming, or I've got to do sports." 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.000 If we change these things, if we pay attention to these things, 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.000 and we re-engage boys in their learning, 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:05.000 they will leave the elementary schools saying, "I'm smart." NOTE Paragraph 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:07.000 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:09.000 (Applause)