US Boys Graduate High School at Lower Rates Than Girls

US Boys Graduate High School at Lower Rates Than Girls

在美国，男孩的高中毕业率低于女孩。

【原文听力】

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　　By Dan Novak

　　14 November 2023

　　The U.S. government does not require states to report graduation rates by a student's sex. But in every state reporting high school graduation rates by gender, research shows female students graduate at higher rates than male students.

　　A report from the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., found that, in 37 states reporting the data, more than 45,000 fewer boys than girls graduated high school in 2018.

　　Richard Reeves was one of the writers of the report from 2021. He said that about 88 percent of girls graduated on time compared with 82 percent of boys that year. A follow up study in 2021 found the difference in graduation between girls and boys in 28 states was six percent. This difference is not just limited to the United States.

　　The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) measures education data in many countries. Among 38 member countries, including most of North America, South America and Europe, more girls graduate high school than boys.

　　In 2020, the average graduation rate for girls in OECD countries was 86 percent for girls, but 79 percent for boys. Just two countries that provided data to OECD, the Czech Republic and South Korea, had a higher graduation rate for boys.

　　OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) measures student knowledge and skills in mathematics, reading, and science at age 15. Eighty-five countries take PISA. OECD information shows that girls mostly perform better in reading than boys. Boys perform better in science and math.

　　Gender gap

　　The difference between graduation rates for girls and boys in the U.S. is being called a "gender gap." Few people talk about it and reports suggest that schools have done little to deal with the issue. But some schools have found ways to fight it.

　　The city of Yonkers, New York, raised graduation rates for minority boys through support such as mentoring. Former Superintendent Edwin Quezada said dealing with the difference between races in graduation rates was useful toward understanding the gender gap, which was seven percentage points in 2022.

　　Boys are sent to special education at higher rates than girls in early grades and are suspended at higher rates throughout school. That can all result in not graduating on time, Quezada said.

　　Schools in the city of Buffalo, New York, have included efforts from My Brother's Keeper. That was the program started by former President Barack Obama to help boys succeed in school. Buffalo also has provided mentoring to male students and hired more men to teach, spokesman Jeffrey Hammond said. Still, the urban school district reported a 10-percentage-point difference between female and male graduation rates in 2022 and an 11-point gap in 2021.

　　"Girls nationally succeed in school over boys because they are more apt to plan ahead (and) set academic goals," Hammond wrote in an email. He said girls receive fewer school suspensions, showing they are more likely to follow rules and receive more instruction from teachers.

　　Only 10 states that report graduation rates by gender also measure it by race. That makes it difficult to understand how race influences the graduation gender gap. But Reeves found some important differences in his latest study in the five largest states that do report graduation by race. He found that the difference between the graduation rate of Black girls and Black boys was much larger than the difference between white girls and white boys or Asian girls and Asian boys.

　　This year, Reeves left the Brookings Institution to start the American Institute for Boys and Men. It is a nonprofit group that says it aims to improve men's lives.

　　Graduation gap

　　The graduation gap is also linked to what observers call a success gap between students from wealthy and poor families. But the reasons for the difference between boys and girls are not clear.

　　Discussions with students, educators and researchers point to several influences. Men can earn the same pay as women with less education. But boys also are more likely to be suspended or face other forms of discipline and punishment. And they do not seek treatment as often as girls do when they face mental health problems.

　　Some boys are fine when they first drop out of school, finding jobs with good pay. But over the long term, not graduating from high school can hold men back. Studies show young men who drop out of high school earn less money over their lifetimes and are more likely to end up in jail.

　　In some cases, boys are not as interested in graduating as girls because they have not needed a high school degree to pay for rent and food, said Beth Jarosz. She is with the nonprofit research organization PRB. A man without a high school diploma often earns as much as a woman who has completed a year or two of college, she said.

　　I'm Dan Novak. And I'm Gena Bennett.

　　Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press and OECD.

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　　作者：丹·诺瓦克

　　日期：2023年11月14日

　　美国政府并不要求各州按照学生性别报告毕业率。但在所有按性别报告高中毕业率的州中，研究显示女生的毕业率高于男生。

　　华盛顿特区布鲁金斯学会的一份报告发现，在37个报告这些数据的州中，2018年男生比女生少毕业超过45,000人。

　　理查德·里夫斯是2021年报告的作者之一。他说，那年大约88%的女生按时毕业，而男生的比例为82%。2021年的一项后续研究发现，28个州的女生和男生之间的毕业差距为6%。这种差距不仅限于美国。

　　经济合作与发展组织（OECD）在许多国家测量教育数据。在包括北美、南美和欧洲的38个成员国中，高中毕业的女生比男生多。

　　2020年，OECD国家的女生平均毕业率为86%，而男生为79%。只有两个向OECD提供数据的国家，捷克共和国和韩国，男生的毕业率更高。

　　OECD的国际学生评估计划（PISA）测量15岁学生在数学、阅读和科学方面的知识和技能。有85个国家参加PISA。OECD的信息显示，女生在阅读方面的表现通常优于男生。男生在科学和数学方面表现更好。

　　性别差距

　　在美国，女生和男生的毕业率之间的差距被称为"性别差距"。很少有人谈论这个问题，报告表明，学校在处理这个问题上做得很少。但是，一些学校找到了应对的方法。

　　纽约州扬克斯市通过提供导师等支持，提高了少数族裔男生的毕业率。前任校长埃德温·奎萨达说，处理毕业率中的种族差异对理解性别差距有所帮助，2022年的性别差距为7个百分点。

　　男生在早期年级的特殊教育中的比例高于女生，并且在整个学校期间的停课率也更高。奎萨达说，这些都可能导致他们不能按时毕业。

　　纽约州布法罗市的学校已经包括了来自“我兄弟的守护者”（My Brother's Keeper）的努力。这是前总统巴拉克·奥巴马启动的一个项目，旨在帮助男生在学校取得成功。布法罗还为男生提供了导师，并雇佣了更多的男性教师，发言人杰弗里·哈蒙德说。然而，这个城市学区在2022年报告的女性和男性毕业率之间有10个百分点的差距，2021年的差距为11个百分点。

　　“全国范围内，女生在学校的成功率超过男生，因为她们更善于提前计划并设定学术目标，”哈蒙德在一封电子邮件中写道。他说，女生接受的学校停课次数较少，显示她们更可能遵守规则并从教师那里获得更多的指导。

　　只有10个按性别报告毕业率的州也按种族进行测量。这使得很难理解种族如何影响毕业性别差距。但是在最新的研究中，里夫斯在五个按种族报告毕业率的最大州中发现了一些重要的差异。他发现，黑人女生和黑人男生的毕业率之间的差距，远大于白人女生和白人男生或亚洲女生和亚洲男生之间的差距。

　　今年，里夫斯离开了布鲁金斯学会，创立了美国男孩和男人研究所。这是一个非营利组织，宣称其目标是改善男性的生活。

　　毕业差距

　　毕业差距也与观察家所说的富裕家庭和贫困家庭的学生之间的成功差距有关。但是男生和女生之间的差异的原因并不清楚。

　　与学生、教育工作者和研究人员的讨论指出了几个影响因素。男性可以通过较少的教育获得与女性相同的薪酬。但是，男生也更可能被停课或面临其他形式的纪律处分和惩罚。当他们面临心理健康问题时，他们不像女生那样经常寻求治疗。

　　一些男生在初次辍学时情况还好，找到了薪酬不错的工作。但是从长远来看，没有从高中毕业可能会阻碍男性的发展。研究显示，辍学的年轻男性在他们的一生中赚取的钱更少，更可能最终进入监狱。

　　贝丝·雅罗什说，有些情况下，男生对毕业的兴趣不如女生，因为他们不需要高中文凭就能支付租金和食物。她在非营利性研究组织PRB工作。她说，一个没有高中文凭的男人往往能赚到和完成一两年大学的女性一样多的钱。

　　我是丹·诺瓦克。我是吉娜·贝内特。

　　丹·诺瓦克根据美联社和经济合作与发展组织的报道，为美国之音学习英语改编了这个故事。

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　　这个故事中的词汇

　　graduation –n.在学校、学院或大学完成一门学习课程并被认可的行为。

　　gender –n. 男性或女性的状态。

　　gap — n.一件事物和另一件事物之间的差异；两件事物之间的空隙。

　　discipline — n.使用规则和惩罚来塑造行为以满足某些要求。

　　apt — adj. 有做某事的倾向。

　　academic –adj. 与学校和教育有关；与现实世界无关。

　　rent –n.对不属于付款人所有的居住地的定期付款。

　　diploma –n.一个文件，证明某人已经完成了特定的学习或训练课程。