Spectator letters: How schools fail boys, Jonathan Croall answers Keith Baxter, and why atheists should love the C of E

Why girls do better

Sir: Isabel Hardman notes that girls now outperform boys at every level in education (‘The descent of man’, 3 May), implying that this is a symptom of a wider cultural malaise.

In fact, boys lost their edge in 16+ exams in 1970, long before their advantages in other areas began to disappear. ‘Child-centred’ reforms were already well advanced when the infamous Plowden report was published in 1967, and informal practices such as ‘discovery learning’ and ‘whole language’ gave girls a decided edge. This was conclusively demonstrated in trials conducted between 1997 and 2005 by the Scottish Office. Children who were taught to read with a rigorous phonics programme outperformed controls by such a wide margin that New Labour was forced to abandon its vaunted National Literacy Strategy. But even more significantly, boys outperformed girls: they clearly thrived in a formal setting where learning objectives were clear and consistent.

Unfortunately, child-centred practices are so deeply engrained in our teacher-training industry that attempts to replicate the Scottish success in English schools have not been uniformly successful. Nor does it help that our 11+ English reading tests reward emotional intelligence: in 2009, 23 out of a possible 50 points were awarded for correctly predicting how fictional characters might have felt or acted.
Prof Tom Burkard
Easton, Norwich

Renewables are the future

Sir: I don’t always agree with everything in The Spectator, but I have always respected your views. Until I read your irresponsible editorial (‘Green and unpleasant’, 3 May). Climate change is not a bandwagon but a reality. What you dismissively call ‘the green industry’ is not racketeering but people trying to do something constructive.

I have farmed on Bodmin Moor for 54 years. I have a virtually invisible wind turbine and a completely invisible field array of photovoltaic panels, which between them generate the equivalent of 35 houses’ annual electricity consumption.