Book Review: The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do

Book Review: The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do, by Peg Tyre, 2008, Three Rivers Press, New York, 311 pp., $15 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-3073-8129-3.

In The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do, author Peg Tyre advocates for struggling male students. Tyre, an investigative reporter and former staff writer for Newsweek, not only researched her topic extensively but also interviewed hundreds of teachers, parents, and administrators. Her goal was "to look at the boy problem fairly, clearly, and compassionately" (p. 13). Tyre's discoveries inspired a book aptly described on its cover as a "manifesto for change." Packed with thought-provoking commentary and detailed case studies, her discussions of the "boy problem" also report innovative techniques that some educators are using to address it. By reading her illuminating book, a school counselor can gain valuable insights about male students and can learn strategies to help them succeed in school.

Tyre acknowledges that many readers will find it challenging to see boys as a disadvantaged population, especially considering the long history of discrimination against female students. She therefore presents an impressive amount of quantitative data to support her hypothesis that in the current decade boys are experiencing academic challenges at every educational level. School counselors, who play an important role in academic development and dropout prevention, will find Tyre's statistics alarming. She reports that just 65% of boys finish high school in comparison to 72% of girls and that only 44% of students who take Advanced Placement classes in high school are male. The author explains that the disparity between male and female students crosses racial and socioeconomic boundaries and can be found "in poor neighborhoods, in elite schools that serve the very rich, and in many middle-class suburban schools" (p. 23). This disturbing trend suggests that school counselors are likely to find boys performing poorly wherever they work.

The Trouble with Boys examines specific issues that...