I was a naughty boy at school. Bored, restless, and disinterested; I was disruptive, cheeky, and disobedient. A clown, a show off… a real little shit. “He’s a bright boy, but he doesn’t apply himself”, my teachers told my parents time and time again, as I fell behind, year after year. The same conversation with my parents; sat at the end of the same bed, with the same look of concern and meagre disappointment in their eyes. But at no point did anyone ever wonder: maybe the learning styles used in school are just not working on him? Is that the problem? Maybe a naughty child, is just… a bored or disinterested child? I was convinced I was not stupid. And I knew my dwindling exam results, and my failures, were not a true reflection of my ability. In my eyes, I was not failing school, but school was failing me. So I saw my grades slip from As, to Bs, to Cs and further, to my final results of straight D’s. I saw other smart boys in my class, follow me down the same slope. I found out my dad did worse than I did. He left school with straight E’s, only to spend the next ten years under his own direction, becoming a professor of psychology, and a leading expert in the field of neuroscience. He was not a stupid boy either, but no doubt must have found it hard to shake off the disappointment of his own parents, and look past the same solemn conversations at the foot of his own bed. This is a universal problem. Boys are behind at every stage of education, in more or less every developed country in the world. Decade after decade slides by, as boys fall further and further behind. Whilst the media, politicians and educators sit at the bottom of beds, talking to our boys about how they just need to work harder, or apply themselves more, or be more like the girls in their class. An epidemic of brilliant boys being convinced they are stupid, or bad. So how long before we ask, who’s failing who… Are boys failing us, or are we failing them? ~ The Atlantic OECD teacher bias Images Gryffn M, JD Mason, Gradienta, Ben Den Englesen, Zach Vessells, Michael Shanon, Sigmund, Paige Cody and Michal Parzuchowski.

2023-06-21