Teachers and parents of boys take note.. Gareth Malone’s series on ABC 1 is entertaining and revealing with many insights to be gained. Debating can have a huge influence in assisting boys at a time in primary school where their reading and writing skills are still developing and their thinking is soaring ahead.  For some, this disconnection leads to a serious rejection or withdrawal from reading, writing and school.

Not doing well with literacy reinforces the idea that the student isn’t very bright and may lead to some of the serious disenchantment we are seeing amongst boys in middle and high school.  Debating is a playful way to engage boys and develop literacy skills at the same time.

Gareth Malone’s BBC documentary series details these issues as it initiates a bold experiment to address them in novel ways.  In the first program on Jan 17, the boys are challenged by a debate with girls in their classes.  They love the idea of performing, they rise to the occassion and their self esteem is visibly raised just by participating. (They are too far behind initially to win)

In the second program you watch a young boy reveal how he doubts his intellegence because he can’t read very well.  Then you see that he avoids it and stops trying out of embarrassment and lack of hope. The lure of electronic games makes the whole situation worse.   Even the small intervention shown in the series makes a huge difference and turns a young life around.

Tune in next Tues Jan 31 at 9:30 pm to see if these adventurous approaches have paid off in higher reading performance by boys.  Seeing what happens in GOZONE DEBATING each year, I KNOW gains will be documented.

Gareth Malone’s Extraordinary School for Boys – ABC 1 9:30pm