The Problem with Boys
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 October 2019
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The data is indisputable: in developed countries boys now lag behind girls in several significant areas of education.
For years, women lagged behind men in educational attainment. More boys went to university, and twice as many men as women got degrees in 1960. Forty years later and, fifty seven percent of university students are women. By almost any measure of school related performance girls are doing better than boys.
Everyone agrees there is a problem but there is little consensus over what is causing it. Are boys doing worse or girls doing better? Is the education system biased against boys? Are boys just wired differently when it comes to learning?
The roots of the new gender gap are complex and nuanced, but if we can't agree on what's causing it, how can we solve it? In the meantime more and more boys will fall behind.
In this Analysis on The Problem with Boys, BBC journalist and father of three boys, David Grossman, looks at the evidence and tries to find a way forward.
Producer: Gemma Newby Editor: Jasper Corbett
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
| 0:20.4 | makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thanks for downloading this edition of Analysis. I'm Jemma Newby and I produce this episode with BBC journalist David Grossman. |
| 0:43.0 | Look at any measure of school-related performance and girls are doing better than boys. |
| 0:47.0 | And they've overtaken them in the degree stakes too. |
| 0:50.0 | But here's something interesting that you might not know. |
| 0:53.0 | It turns out, as far back as records go, |
| 0:55.0 | girls have always done better than boys when it comes to school. |
| 0:58.0 | So what's going on? |
| 1:00.0 | In this episode, we look at the evidence behind the reverse gender gap and try to find a way forward. Another school day starts. |
| 1:17.0 | day starts. |
| 1:18.0 | Packing off kids in the morning always feels like a small victory over the logistical chaos that threatens to overwhelm family life. |
| 1:26.0 | I'm the father of three boys, two in school, and the third will start next year. |
| 1:31.0 | Every parent worries about education, but for the parents of boys, there's a particular concern. Boys do far worse than girls. |
| 1:39.0 | What's particularly interesting in that 1980s and 1990s, people are concerned about girls in education. |
| 1:48.0 | And now we have this really interesting reversal whereby, if anything, people are talking about a boy problem. |
| 1:57.0 | However you slice it, boys do significantly worse than girls. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.