Studies indicate there are different tempos of learning styles between the genders - often girls prefer to learn by watching or listening, while boys prefer to learn by doing. Many schools, despite their efforts, are not geared toward the way boys learn, and as a result, boys tend to act up in response to their boredom or restlessness. In a sense, the normal way boys like to learn is often labeled 'abnormal' by school administrators and teachers. Boys are ten times as likely to be diagnosed with ADD than girls. Boys lag behind girls in reading scores.
Boys express less confidence than girls in achieving higher education.
Boys are more likely to endure disciplinary problems, be suspended or drop out of school. While academic performance and self-esteem are declining, the rates of suicide and depression are on the rise among boys. As the recent tragedies in Littleton, CO, Jonesboro, AK, Atlanta, GA and Boston, MA demonstrate, thousands of boys are engaged in silent crisis in towns and homes across the United States. Boys are more likely to succeed in suicide than girls. Since the 1950s, suicides among young white males have nearly tripled and remain, even now, twice as high as the overall suicide rate of the United States.