What’s Wrong with Boys at School?

What’s Wrong with Boys at School? by Tom Sarrouf, Jr. at Institute for Family Studies. Boys are not faring as well as girls in the classroom. Women outperform men in school in terms of school readiness in kindergarten, GPA, and increasingly in college enrollment and degree attainment. According to Richard Reeves, of the top 10% of students, two-thirds are girls. On the flip side, boys comprise nearly two-thirds of the bottom 10% of students. While boys outperform girls overall on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT, girls perform better on the written and verbal portions of the exams while boys outperform on STEM subjects. Read

Don’t Give in to the Post-Literate Culture by Jeannette DeCelles-Zwerneman at Cana Academy. Increasingly, teachers are encountering students who don’t know how to read. This is especially problematic for those who are teaching in classical schools dedicated to studying substantive works of literature. What are teachers observing in their classrooms? Teachers report that, despite their efforts to reduce the reading load, their students still don’t do the reading assignments. If teachers are running a seminar, the number of students prepared to discuss the reading is shrinking while those who didn’t do the reading take notes and regurgitate those notes in written assignments based on the readings they didn’t do. Read

Authentic Grammar in Classical Schools by S. A. Dance at First Things. I regret to report that grammar schools no longer teach grammar. It is considered as retrograde as observing that girls prefer dolls and boys prefer war or insisting that boys and girls are not interchangeable. But it is no coincidence that our loss of true grammar preceded our current confusion over the meaning of “boy” and “girl.” Read

The Comforting Rhythm of Repetition: A gift from God by Daniel Esparza at Aleteia. Have you ever noticed how children thrive on repetition? The same bedtime stories told over and over again soon become comforting classics, and the predictability of a daily routine provides a sense of security. This love of the familiar isn’t just a childhood quirk; it’s a principle woven into the very fabric of what we are. Read

California Teachers Are Using AI to Grade Papers. Who’s Grading the AI? by Khari Johnson at CalMatters. Your children could be some of a growing number of California kids having their writing graded by software instead of a teacher. California school districts are signing more contracts for artificial intelligence tools, from automated grading in San Diego to chatbots in central California, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. English teachers say AI tools can help them grade papers faster, get students more feedback, and improve their learning experience. But guidelines are vague and adoption by teachers and districts is spotty. Read

Dangerously Good: Forming Great Souls by Alvaro de Vicente at The Heights Forum. At last April’s Fatherhood Conference at The Heights, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente tackled the challenge of how to teach magnanimity to our children. Following Fr. Carter Griffin’s keynote address, Mr. de Vicente laid out the map: the obstacles we must navigate, the targets of opportunity we must seize, and the tools to pack for the mission. Listen

Catholic Summer Camps for You by Alexandra Greeley at Catholic Exchange. A Catholic summer camp is a unique opportunity for both human and spiritual growth. Children experience life-changing activities and form friendships within the nurturing environment of a faith-based program. Furthermore, there are many exciting camps located within wilderness sites, giving the youngsters a chance to see God’s hand in creation up close. Read

Oklahoma Judge Says Lawsuit Over Nation’s First Catholic Charter School Can Proceed by Daniel Payne at Catholic News Agency. An Oklahoma judge this week said a lawsuit challenging the nation’s first religious charter school can proceed, a victory for opponents wishing to halt public funding of the Catholic institution. Oklahoma County District Judge Richard Ogden will allow the lawsuit against the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to move forward almost in its entirety, Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) said in a press release. Read

Michigan Classical School Won’t Play Identity Politics by Andrea M. Picciotti-Bayer at National Catholic Register. For Catholics in the United States, the month of June, which the Church dedicates to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is our chance to be counter-cultural in defense of the dignity of God’s creation of men and women, made in his image and likeness. Providentially, Sacred Heart Academy in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has already taken on this challenge. Joined by a group of parents, it is suing the state of Michigan in federal court, demanding a reprieve from the state’s sweeping “anti-discrimination” law. Oral argument is scheduled for June 11. Read

Throwback Thursday

Philosophy Lost by Steven Jonathan Rummelsburg at The Imaginative Conservative on July 30, 2013. The Great Western Tradition and the permanent ideas about education that flow out of it are grounded in a proper understanding of philosophy that seeks to order and reveal the natural law and the divine law for a proper understanding of reality. The modern schools and those who design them have abandoned real philosophy in a fool’s bargain to gain a moment in exchange for posterity. Read