Today, educating boys looks no different than educating girls. Studies have shown that “various regions of the brain develop in a different sequence and tempo in girls compared with boys. In some regions of the brain, such as the parietal gray matter (info integration) –the region of the brain most involved with integrating information from different sensory modalities–girls and boys develop along similar trajectories, but the pace of the girls’ development is roughly two years ahead of the boys’.” (Boys Adrift, Sax, p. 17)

Further, a study from the University of Georgia & Columbia University (Cornwell, Mustard, Parys), showed that grading practices disadvantage boys in the classroom. Boys that score equally well on subject-tests have worse overall grades in the classes. Researchers identified differences in non-cognitive skills as the source of these differences in grades. Further, boys that map their non-cognitive skills onto those of their female peers actually see a grade boost reward even higher than the girls. In short, we punish boys for being boys and reward boys for trying to imitate girls.

At Crown of Thorns Academy, we’re providing the one remedy that every researcher suggests: set up education that is made specifically for boys.

Studies have found that girls and boys respond to different forms of discipline differently: some that work well for boys, don’t for girls; and vice-versa. Schools have selected for the methods that work well for girls, even if they hurt boys’ development.

Studies have also found that boys respond to in-class competition (quiz competition / team competition / etc.) with boosts to their motivation. On the contrary, girls respond to in-class competition with demotivation. For that reason, schools do not employ competition in their classrooms.

All-boys schools out East are known for doing year long competition periods at the end of the school day where students are sorted into different teams, intermixing the grades, to compete against one another. Sometimes they compete in knowledge quiz bowls, sometimes debates, sometimes athletics feats, sometimes chess tournaments. When boys are engaged, their motivation increases; when boys are motivated, they do better in every area of life.

At Crown of Thorns Academy, we want to see boys thrive as boys. When boys thrive as boys, they thrive as people. When men thrive as people, they’re better friends, brothers, fathers, husbands, neighbors, employees, and employers.

This question could also be phrased, “Why does it matter if all-boys education is Catholic (Christian) or not?”

All-Boys education is vastly improved & supported by a Christian-Catholic worldview. Our Lord models sacrifice, virtue, wisdom, and self-denial perfectly. When a man doesn’t know Christ, they grow vain and self-centered. When a man is vain and self-centered, he is dangerous and chaotic.

All-Boys Catholic education focuses first on what we owe God in justice, out of obligation—which includes worship of God, commitment to prayer, study of the faith, moral rectitude, technical precision—and culminates in a love of God anchored in truth. Caritas in Veritate (Truth in Love) was the 3rd encyclical of the late Pope Benedict XVI—it stressed the necessary relationship between truth and love. When we love without truth, our love degrades; when we know the truth, we are strengthened in our love. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches the primacy of the intellect, that the will proceeds from the intellect, and it means that if we know the truth well, we grow in charity; conversely, if we grow in charity, we must grow in our commensurate knowledge of God.

We’re not looking to make our boys into theologians and academics (that is great if they want to become that!)—we’re looking to give them clarity and precision in their faith and understanding so that they can excel in their moral life and experience the joy, peace, patience, meekness, kindness, and love that Our Lord wants all of us to experience.