At the heart of the author's article is conformity - conformity of teaching style where teaching is subverted to telling, conformity of social culture where sport is made out as a desirable aim, conformity of thought where inquiry for the sheer sake of knowledge and understanding is considered with scorn ("that's gay", and conformity of expectation - don't aim to be better or to improve - go along with the mob.

A genuine teacher is a motivator, a lover of topic, yet this ability seems to be crushed down into the assembly line rationale of "modern" education.

Is it any wonder that someone who can play with a ball is more highly regarded by much of society than someone who can play with thought, reason, and abstraction.

While there's much in what you say Peter, I daresay boys who come from wealthier Anglo/celtic homes also fare better than the average working class slob?
Alan B.

'Boys need a tough image. Boys can't do lots of stuff. You can't show emotions. They have to win. They have to have the last laugh. Those are the rules of any schoolyard.'
If these are the rules of any school yard then the failures are in school structure.
My school, a class of 48 with an approximate split of 50/50, the competition was fierce, with the top three consistently being boys.
Kids fitting the description in this article have been failed by their parents. Kids who have not learned to read, encouraged to want to know!

That said the modern 'cooperative' learning would have been death to me.

at least the author recognises that their is a difference between boys and girls. Someone should tell Daniel Andrews.

Daniel Andrews- what's he doing about boys and girls?

Yep, wealthier kids do fine most of the time. Check out your nearby elite school. In NSW, James Ruse High tops the state every year. Sydney Boys High also does well. And Sydney Grammar School. Check out sometime how many boys at these schools are Asian. A very high percentage. Why can't we talk more bluntly about these issues?

Maybe Peter West should examine the arena of piano playing, where overwhelmingly, the participants are female and overwhelmingly, the winners are male. We are told that across the world, 80% of piano students are female and yet the males rise to the top. We have just had the International Piano competition in Sydney. Seven from thirty-two selected performers were female; in the finals, one from twelve was a young lady. Visit any eisteddfod or competition and you will see the young men excelling more as they get older. I don't understand this phenomenon but would like to.