Americas educational system has a problem with boys, and its nothing new.The question of what to do with boysthe 'boy problem'has vexed educators and social commentators for more than a century. Contemporary debates about poor academic performance of boys, especially those of color, point to a myriad of reasons: inadequate and punitive schools, broken families, poverty, and cultural conflicts. Julia Grant offers a historical perspective on these debates and reveals that it is a perennial issue in American schooling that says much about gender and education today.Since the birth of compulsory schooling, educators have contended with what exactly to do with boys of immigrant, poor, minority backgrounds. Initially, public schools developed vocational education and organized athletics and technical schools as well as evening and summer continuation schools in response to the concern that the American culture of masculinity devalued academic success in school. Urban educators sought ways to deal with the 'bad boys'almost exclusively poor, immigrant, or migrantwho skipped school, exhibited behavioral problems when they attended, and sometimes landed in special education classes and reformatory institutions. The problems these boys posed led to accommodations in public education and juvenile justice system.This historical study sheds light on contemporary concerns over the academic performance of boys of color who now flounder in school or languish in the juvenile justice system. Grant's cogent analysis will interest education policy-makers and educators, as well as scholars of the history of education, childhood, gender studies, American studies, and urban history.
Introduction 1. Schooling the ""Dangerous Classes"": Reforming Boys in Nineteenth-Century America 2. The Nature of Boy Nature: Education and Recreation for Masculinity 3. The Perils of Public Education: Truants, Underachievers, and School Leavers 4. Bad or Backward? Gender and the Genesis of Special Education 5. ""The Boys' Own Story"": ""The Boys' Own Story"" 6. Black Boys and Native Sons: Race, Delinquency, and Schooling in the Urban North Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Index
""[Grant] makes an original contribution by keeping her eye on the prize: understanding the many ways in which gender shaped the world and life chances of lower class boys since the nineteenth century. That is a major accomplishment in this succintly written history.""
