Boys and Girls Learning Differences

Boys and Girls Learn Differently! -- Michael Gurian and Patricia Henley

Michael Gurian's book has been a best seller and a much-discussed, respected handbook on the topic of boys vs. girls in a learning milieu since it was published in 2001. But more than its popularity and success in the market, Gurian's book has made a positive impact on parents, teachers, counselors and others interested in education and human development because it delves into the neurological, chemical and hormonal disparities between boys and girls. Gurian's book is a well-presented narrative and moreover it is based on the author's vast experience as a teacher, family therapist and researcher -- and his ability to relate those experiences well.

There are many significant points in the book that make it valuable in today's educational setting. For one, the author offers believable, reader-friendly narrative on why boys and girls process information differently. For another, when Gurian explains that the young female brain has a "learning advantage" he backs it up with empirical research and psychological theories that validate his assertions. For example, when he explains that the female brain may not be as large as the male brain but girls' brains mature more quickly than boys, he is leading the reader by the hand in order to explain the fundamental differences in learning styles. "Boys tend to be deductive in their conceptualizations," he writes, but "girls tend to favor inductive thinking."

Throughout the book, an alert reader is reminded often that if teachers, parents and counselors truly understand the chemical / biological changes children go through -- and how that affects them emotionally, intellectually and socially -- adults can be far more effective in providing the right environment for children's learning and achievement.

As regards my career in special education I certainly know teachers need to continue their education vis-a-vis why students behave and learn or fail to learn. Moreover, I have twelve-year-old twins (a boy and a girl), and certainly their learning styles are not the same. From Gurian's book, I have a better grasp on how my own children process information and why they are different. I also appreciated his section on Special Education because he spells out what I see every day in my classroom -- the male gender brain "…is especially fragile… and is more vulnerable to a learning disability" (Gurian, 247). Adding the male brain's fragile nature to male hormones, Gurian explains, drives "disabled males toward aggressive, uncontrolled, and inappropriate behavior more than females…" (247). His suggested innovations (250-51) -- creating a class within a class -- are certainly worth a try in any classroom, including mine.

Chapter One

In Gurian's first chapter he takes time to fully explain the functions of various parts of the brain; he builds the case that there are dramatic differences in brain development between girls and boys. He explains that the "…corpus callosum, the bundle of nerves that connects the right and left hemispheres" of the brain is 20% larger in girls. What does that mean in terms of learning? Girls develop quicker in the frontal lobes (helps them in decision making) and they develop quicker in the occipital lobes (sensory processing takes place in these lobes), Gurian explains.

Moreover, girls take in "more sensory data than boys," he explains on page 27. They actually hear better, they have a better sense of smell, and their ability to receive information through their fingertips and skin is more developed than boys. After reading through Gurian's myriad examples of how and why girls are ahead of boys, one wonders how boys ever catch up in later life -- or if in fact many of them simply never catch up (or grow up). According to Gurian's book, as a general rule girls also do better: a) at controlling their impulsive behavior; b) at self-monitoring "high-risk and immoral conduct"; c) at controlling any tendency for "natural aggression"; and d) when it comes to developing verbal abilities and also relying on verbal communication to progress into adolescence.

The boys meanwhile: a) rely "heavily on nonverbal communication" simply because they are not as well developed in verbalizing as girls are; and b) have better "spatial abilities" (in areas such as measuring, mechanical design, geography and map reading). It comes as no surprise to elementary and middle school teachers that girls bond quicker with other girls than boys do with other boys. In fact, girls "bond first and ask questions later" but boys, Gurian explains on page 28, "might be aggressive first and ask questions later." Boys strive to dominate in a group setting, while girls tend to utilize "egalitarian alliances" (28). The list of things that girls can do better than boys -- and the boys do more effectively than girls -- is far longer than space in this paper, but a few more of those differences are worthy of mention (Chapter 1).

Girls are less likely to be "overwhelmed" by stimulation but boys excel at dealing with "spatial relationships" like objects and theorems; when it comes to singing in tune, six times as many girls can sing in tune than boys; and girls respond immediately and "acutely" to pain, but in terms of "resistance to long-term discomfort is stronger than in males" (30). Girls process more emotional stimulants, "through more senses, and more completely" than boys do. Further, and again, this is a finding in Gurian's book that won't surprise teachers at any level of K-12, boys' "aggression-and-withdrawal response short-circuits intellectual and academic learning" because his process of emoting uses "less reasoning" and "takes longer" (32).

Chapters 4 and 5

In Chapter 4 Gurian criticizes classrooms that fail to emphasize "character development"; he agrees that encouraging values like self-esteem is important, but if the moral needs of the child are not addressed, the development of character loses ground. The nuts and bolts of character development -- vitally important in my special education class -- include: respect, empathy, accountability, responsibility, recognition of diversity, honesty, compassion, cooperation, self-confidence and resourcefulness (169). A school or classroom that engages in character development makes it absolutely firm that behaviors like teasing, harassment, humiliation, aggression and violence (in 2001 all of these actions are bundled into one word, "bullying") are not acceptable. In my classroom of special education students, I absolutely believe in -- and do my best to enforce -- character development. Children under my guidance are of course not fully mature with reference to their emotions and actions, and we emphasize respect to both girls and boys; we teach them to value each other's idiosyncrasies no matter that they may be quite different and even unusual.