ABSTRACT
This chapter considers essentialist and anti-essentialist mind-sets that have influenced the education of boys. Mainstream discussions of gender in education tend to emphasize a dichotomy starting from a biological division between male and female, defining gender as the social or psychological difference that corresponds to that divide. The 'feminization' of schools is popular explanation for boys' lower educational performance. Essentialist accounts include how boys' natural biological differences are a core feature that places them at odds with feminine endeavours such as reading. There is evidence of essentialist influences in the equal opportunity mind-set. This mind-set claims to value gendered knowledge and experience. The value of the socialization approach, according to Rowan, is the attention to the construction of the processes and behaviours commonly represented as normal for both boys and girls. Biological explanations theorize differences between boys and girls as natural.
