What Schools and Parents Get Wrong About Boys & Girls with Dr. Leonard Sax

How can we better educate and parent our boys and girls?

So, this week’s episode on I Demand a Meeting was a really special one for me and Jesse.

We had the opportunity to sit down with New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Leonard Sax, to discuss the differences in educating boys versus girls. We also touched on the changes in parenting, and teenage usage of social media and smartphones.

Dr. Leonard Sax has been someone whose work has deeply influenced my own leadership over the years. Books like Boys Adrift and The Collapse of Parenting helped give language to things I was already seeing in schools, classrooms, and families, but maybe couldn’t fully articulate at the time.

In this conversation, we talk honestly about what schools and parents are getting wrong about boys and girls. Dr. Sax walks through the growing reality of boys falling behind academically, why boys and girls learn differently, and how some well-intended educational and parenting practices may actually be working against our kids.

This isn’t a culture-war conversation and of course, not every statement can fully represent every boy or girl. It’s a thoughtful, research-based discussion about child development, classroom practice, parenting, and formation.

Whether you’re an educator, administrator, coach, or parent, I think you’ll find this conversation both encouraging and challenging in all the right ways.

We explore:

• Why boys are falling behind academically

• Key differences in how boys and girls learn

• Why sitting all day hurts boys’ learning

• How competition can motivate boys and girls when structured well

• Strategies to engage boys and girls in reading and mathematics

• The role of parenting, authority, and limits in child development

• Why unrestricted social media access is harming kids

Thank you for listening and sharing this episode! Leave a comment here or on YouTube with your thoughts or questions.