Most of us are not aware of the sheer size of the gender gap in literacy. Government reports do not trumpet these numbers. This presentation is the first time, to my knowledge, that these numbers have ever been presented. Take a look at the reading and writing achievement of boys whom we would most expect to do well, the sons of college educated parents––your sons and grandsons and the young men available for your daughters to marry. Take a look at the literacy of 12th graders, seniors in high school, those young men who have hung in there and not dropped out.
At the end of high school, 23% of the white sons of college educated parents––almost a quarter–– scored “Below Basic” in reading achievement, compared to only 7% of their female counterparts.[1] (See Table). We are not talking about boys who read at the Basic Level. We are not talking about boys who read at the Proficient level. We are not talking about boys who read at the Advanced Level. We are talking about boys who read “Below Basic.” This means that almost one in four boys who have college educated parents can not read a newspaper with understanding. What kinds of jobs can they get in the information age, where not only professionals but also mechanics must be able to read complicated directions? Even more alarming, the reading skills of these boys––the white sons of college-educated parents––have dropped substantially over the last ten years.
