1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910788682703321

Autore

Morris Edward W. <1973->

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

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

ISBN

1-283-52672-7

9786613839176

0-8135-5370-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (226 p.)

Collana

Rutgers series in childhood studies

Disciplina

370.15/1

Soggetti

Sex differences in education - United States

High school boys - United States - Social conditions

Men - United States - Identity

Black people - Race identity - United States

Academic achievement - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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.