"Why are many boys doing relatively poorly in schools, and education overall?"

Because the system does not cater well for individual learning styles, its not about gender so much, its about the person. To state the bleeding obvious, everyone is an absolute individual. However in saying that, I understand the constraints of budgets and availability of properly trained teachers operating within intelligently constructed curriculums.

It's a bit like how we choose leaders today, it should be based on talent, NOT gender. But I often think I expect too much from my fellow humans.

Some useful points made above in this discussion.

There's something in the argument that as a boy in England put it:

"Teachers prefer girls. They work harder, look nicer, and smell better".

West could have talked about the Forest Schools Movement which takes kids outdoors to learn:

https://www.forestschools.com/what-happens-at-a-forest-school/

Actually it really is about gender. There is no doubt that girls & boys have different aptitudes. Boys are generally better at math & physics, they are similar at chemistry & girls are generally better at literary subjects.

Recognising this, the feminists who have managed to take control of western education systems have been progressively reducing the heavier content of math & physics, & introducing a literary element to the subject area.

We now have very high achievers from high school who cannot make change for a bus ticket without a calculator. At university they are finding such graduates cannot handle even moderate math concepts without a remedial course in basic real math.

The feminists have achieved their objective. More girls are entering university, but at what cost. Year 12 graduates cannot even handle the minor math required for a trade course in the electrical or building trades. This is the stuff that 15 year olds with just a junior high education had no trouble with just 25 years ago.

Yes the education system is failing boys, but this is not by accident. It is the result of a long slow & cunning process to advantage women, at male expense. Of course the feminists are too stupid to see they are disadvantaging the entire population with their trickery, just the boys even more.

Hasbeen

I like your second-last post. This is something I've increasingly noticed too. Education has been drawn out far too long. We seem to have accepted the dictates of ... I dunno, the usual powers that be ... that by keeping kids at school for as long as practically possible, we will end up with a better class of workforce participants - and generally happier people.

Why?? Is this trope ever properly challenged? It's become an act of sacrilege to question whether staying at school until the age of 18 is beneficial to the average human being. For centuries, kids went to school to learn the three-R basics and maybe some appreciation of culture and history, and then they left to join the workforce where they learned their trade or profession on the job.

And it doesn't stop at school. Tertiary education is now progressively extending the length of time needed to acquire basic qualifications to enter the workforce. By way of example, teacher training is soon to be extended to 5 years (in line with recently introduced EU standards) - with students having to complete a post-graduate Masters of Education, before they can start teaching. That means yet another year of tertiary study and another year of student poverty followed by more HECS debt. And for what? Does it really make them better teachers?

It's getting insane! School and academia are fine for the academically inclined - male or female - but most of us want to get our formal education out of the way, start earning a living and getting trade and professional experience on the job.

All the education studies in the world will never get students to enjoy years and years of enforced bondage to schools and tertiary institutions just to reach the holy grail of workforce entry.

If that's true, it's bad news, Killarney.

It takes weeks to train police....and already 4 years to educate teachers?? Why would a smart man go into teaching? Or a clever woman either?

Tell me when to stop laughing and choking at the same time. When girls classes were being mega promoted, especially under Madame von Kirner's regime, male teachers like myself warned that those policies while great and surely needed for girls were also being very biased against and hurtful towards boys. I recall my then school. An after hours class for girls. THEWY asked their female teachers to allow boys to join. Those teachers refused so the girls refused to attend. Yes the students themselves saw the stupidity in what was going on. And I could talk about the deliberate bullying of male teachers at many schools by senior females, the back stabbing, the crap ALL supported by a wretched Dept of Education. I challenge the Minister to take a bloody good look for himself BUT to question the advice he gets as well. Then, to create effective fair policy, and act upon it