Educating Boys: Notes from the Field

Abstract

I draw from several decades of work as a psychologist—in clinical and consulting practice, on staff at a boys’ school, and conducting research studies—to offer a set of observations about boys’ education. I argue that despite a long history of poor outcomes, schools have neglected to ground their approach to male students in sound developmental science. In my initial research, boys across the globe were clear about the primacy of the student–teacher relationship for their learning. In a follow-up study, I learned that these relationships are particularly vulnerable to break down due to normative cultural stresses and teachers’ reactions to boys’ resistance. Yet it was also clear that the teacher bears primary responsibility for the working alliance. Finally, I learned that it is in these relationships that boys can best learn critical skills of accountability and moral behavior.