Learning the hard way : masculinity, place, and the gender gap in education / Edward W. Morris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morris, Edward W., 1973-

Series:

Rutgers series in childhood studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex differences in education--United States--Case studies.

Sex differences in education.

High school boys--United States--Social conditions--Case studies.

High school boys.

Men--United States--Identity--Case studies.

Men.

Black people--Race identity--United States--Case studies.

Black people.

Academic achievement--United States--Case studies.

Academic achievement.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (226 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

An avalanche of recent newspapers, weekly newsmagazines, scholarly journals, and academic books has helped to spark a heated debate by publishing warnings of a “boy crisis” in which male students at all academic levels have begun falling behind their female peers. In Learning the Hard Way, Edward W. Morris explores and analyzes detailed ethnographic data on this purported gender gap between boys and girls in educational achievement at two low-income high schools—one rural and predominantly white, the other urban and mostly African American. Crucial questions arose from his study of gender at these two schools. Why did boys tend to show less interest in and more defiance toward school? Why did girls significantly outperform boys at both schools? Why did people at the schools still describe boys as especially “smart”? Morris examines these questions and, in the process, illuminates connections of gender to race, class, and place. This book is not simply about the educational troubles of boys, but the troubled and complex experience of gender in school. It reveals how particular race, class, and geographical experiences shape masculinity and femininity in ways that affect academic performance. His findings add a new perspective to the “gender gap” in achievement.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Respect and Respectability

Chapter 3. The Hidden Injuries of Gender

Chapter 4. Too Cool for School

Chapter 5. Rednecks and Rutters

Chapter 6. Clownin’ and Riffin’

Chapter 7 .“Girls Just Care about It More”

Chapter 8. Friday Night Fights

Chapter 9. Conclusion

Appendix. Research Methods: Process and Representation

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-52672-7

9786613839176

0-8135-5370-9

OCLC:

808730643