About Boys - The Southport School

The following are a few facts
we know about boys
Boys under-perform
compared with girls
in literacy tests at
both Year 3 and Year
6 in Government
schools. This
result is replicated
throughout the
school system.
Boys achieve
notably lower
grades in English
at both School
Certificate Level
and Higher School
Certificate. (NSW).
Boys perform better
in numeracy tests at
Years 3 and 6.
Girls have
outperformed boys
over the past 13
years on the basis
of the mean TES
(Tertiary Entrance
Scores).
2003 Queensland
Tertiary Admissions
Centre Annual
Report indicates
that at all upper
OP bands except
OP Band 1 females
outnumber males.
The difference at
Band 1 and 2 is
only 0.4% of all
students qualifying
for an OP; however,
at Band 4 the
difference is 18 %.
More girls than boys
stay on to complete
Year 12 (2002:
20,165 girls 19,149
boys in Queensland)
Boys are twice as
likely as girls to be
labelled "learning
disabled"
Boys are under
represented in
the total available
University and TAFE
places.
Boys can be
uncommunicative.
They will not
talk about their
problems. However
the majority of
students needing
welfare assistance
are boys.
Boys have fewer
alternative dispute
resolution skills
than girls and
sometimes see
physical conflict as
an acceptable way
to resolve problems.
Studies suggest
that a boy's self
esteem is more
fragile than that of
a girl and the rate
of depression
among boys is
alarmingly high.
Boys are four to six
times more likely to
commit suicide.
90% of cases of
Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity
Disorder (A.D.H.D.)
are boys.
By age 15 boys are
three times more
likely to die from
any cause - but
particularly from
accidents, violence
and suicide.