From the moment they step into the classroom, boys begin to struggle. By eighth grade huge numbers are reading below basic level. Perhaps most alarmingly, boys now account for less than 43 percent of those enrolled in college, and the gap widens every semester! The growing gender imbalance in education portends massive shifts for the next generation: how much they make and whom they marry. Interviewing parents, kids, teachers, and experts, journalist Peg Tyre drills below the statistics to examine how the educational system is failing our sons. But this passionate, clearheaded book isn't an exercise in finger-pointing. Tyre, the mother of two sons, offers the testimony of teachers and school officials who are trying new techniques to motivate boys to learn again, one classroom at a time. This book is a manifesto for change--one we must undertake right away lest school become, for millions of boys, unalterably a "girl thing."--From publisher description.

Introduction: The trouble with boys -- Notes from the front : the Edina Experiment -- The scope of the problem : it's not just your son -- The doubters : why some parents (mistakenly) say boys are doing just fine -- Preschool blues : the first signs of trouble -- Notes from the front : fixing the school, not the boy -- Kindergarten : the new first grade -- Requiem for recess : yes, they need it, more than you think -- Pay attention : your son, his teacher, and ADHD -- Notes from the front : the Wilmette Solution -- Good-bye, Mr. Chips : the vanishing male teacher -- Boys and literacy : why Johnny can't (or won't) read -- Thinking with a boy brain : what brain science tells us -- (Video) games boys play : the world of electronic distraction -- Single-sex schooling : could it be the answer? -- Notes from the front : Project Earthquake -- Smart boys who get bad grades : are schools biased against boys? -- Boys alone : how we devalue what boys need -- Notes from the front : learning to be a man -- College : where the boys aren't -- The future : telling the truth about boys.