Leonard Sax
Encyclopedia
Leonard Sax is an American psychologist
and family physician. He is best known as the author of three books for parents: Why Gender Matters, Boys Adrift and Girls on the Edge. He is also founder and executive director of the National Association for Single Sex
Public Education.
Sax's views on gender differences are controversial and have received both praise and criticism. On his web site, Sax says that he wrote Boys Adrift and Girls on the Edge because he is concerned about "a growing proportion of girls who are anxious, depressed, and tired; girls who can tell you a great deal about what they do but not so much about who they are. Likewise, we find a growing proportion of boys who are disengaged not only from school but from the real world. Those boys are comfortable in the virtual world, where they play their online video games, and/or surf the net for photographs of girls."
(MIT) in 1980 with a bachelor's degree
in biology
. He completed the combined M.D.-Ph.D. program at the University of Pennsylvania
in 1986. His Ph.D. was in psychology
. He completed the 3-year residency in family practice at Lancaster General Hospital
(Lancaster, Pennsylvania
) in 1989. In 1990, he founded Poolesville Family Practice, a primary care practice in Montgomery County, Maryland
. He retired from medical practice in the spring of 2008 in order to be "a better husband and a better father, and also in order to have more time to visit schools, to learn more about gender differences, to lead professional development workshops. . ."
In an op-ed column in the New York Times published June 11, 2006, David Brooks
calls Dr. Sax's first book, Why Gender Matters, "a lucid guide to male and female brain differences."
Dr. Sax's second book, Boys Adrift, was reviewed by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in December 2007. According to the review, Boys Adrift is "powerfully and persuasively presented," and provides "excellent and informative references and information." The review concludes that "Boys Adrift is at its strongest in providing practical advice to parents about how to increase their sons' academic motivation; how to set appropriate limits on video game use; and how to protect their sons from the potential harm of psychotropic medications and environmental estrogens. Boys Adrift is at its weakest in supporting the thesis that there is an epidemic of unmotivated and underachieving young men."
Dr. Sax's third book Girls on the Edge was reviewed by Library Journal which called the book ". . .essential reading for parents and teachers, and one of the most thought-provoking books on teen development available.” Mark Bauerlein
, professor at Emory University
, reviewed Girls on the Edge for the Chronicle of Higher Education and called it "crucial" and said that "Parents of tween and teen girls would do well to check this book." Booklist called Girls on the Edge "persuasive, often fascinating . . .a holistic, sobering call to help the current generation of young women develop the support and sense of self that will allow them to grow into resilient adults.” According to a January 2011 review in the Atlantic magazine, Girls on the Edge is ". . .the best book about the current state of girls and young women in America."
, a professor of linguistics
and computer science
at the University of Pennsylvania, questioned on his blog, Language Log
, many of the claims which Sax made in his first book Why Gender Matters. Liberman and other contributors to Liberman's blog claimed Sax made use of small differences between sexes to make sweeping generalizations about sex differences; Liberman also argued that there were often only tenuous connections between the assertions made in Why Gender Matters and the citations used to support those assertions. Liberman asserted that there were serious problems with Sax's claims about sex differences in hearing, vision, and connections between emotions and language. Liberman argued that many of Sax's claims in Why Gender Matters were inaccurate and pseudoscientific. Sax initially responded to Liberman's criticism on the NASSPE website. In March 2011, on the web site of Why Gender Matters, Sax acknowledged that the points he made regarding sex differences in hearing, sex differences in vision, and sex differences in mathematical computation were inaccurate. He now provides updated references to scholarly papers on these three issues, while conceding that his discussion of sex differences in threshold auditory acuity in Why Gender Matters was mistaken.
Sax's advocacy of single-sex public education has also attracted criticism. In March 2008, New York Times Magazine published a lengthy piece deeply critical of Sax's advocacy of single-sex education; the article was written by freelancer
Elizabeth Weil. In addition to describing Liberman's criticism of Sax, the article asserted that "many academics and progressives tend to find Sax’s views stereotyped and infuriating". She also described critics as stating that Sax's message of essential gender differences "is at odds with one of the most foundational principles of America’s public schools." She concluded that graduates of single-sex schools are less likely to understand American principles of "commonality, tolerance and what it means to be American." The article also cited criticism by the head of the Faculty of Education of the University of Cambridge. Sax responded on the NASSPE website that the criticism in this article is due to a biased view of single-sex education, and he claimed that the article included many errors of fact.
interviewed Sax about the controversy surrounding boys' achievement, which was the topic of the cover story in Time Magazine that week. Sax was first a guest on the TODAY show February 15, 2005. Al Roker
interviewed Sax about his book Why Gender Matters. In Canada, Sax was a guest in the Toronto studio of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for an interview broadcast nationwide on January 18, 2008. In Australia, Sax was a guest in the studio for the Today Show, interviewed by Jessica Rowe. In New Zealand, Sax was a studio guest of New Zealand's Channel One in May 2008 for a discussion of single-sex public education. In the United Kingdom, Sax was the subject of a full-page feature article in The Times
, and was also featured in an article which appeared in the Daily Mail on January 24, 2008.
On May 10, 2010, Sax was a guest on CNN's American Morning, discussing his book Girls on the Edge and some of the challenges facing girls in the era of texting and Facebook. He was again a guest on CNN's American Morning on August 20, 2010, discussing recent research suggesting that ADHD is over-diagnosed in American schoolchildren. He returned as a guest on national television in New Zealand on August 6, 2010, discussing the girl-specific challenges of 'the cyberbubble'.
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
and family physician. He is best known as the author of three books for parents: Why Gender Matters, Boys Adrift and Girls on the Edge. He is also founder and executive director of the National Association for Single Sex
Single-sex education
Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, is the practice of conducting education where male and female students attend separate classes or in separate buildings or schools. The practice was predominant before the mid-twentieth century, particularly in secondary education and...
Public Education.
Sax's views on gender differences are controversial and have received both praise and criticism. On his web site, Sax says that he wrote Boys Adrift and Girls on the Edge because he is concerned about "a growing proportion of girls who are anxious, depressed, and tired; girls who can tell you a great deal about what they do but not so much about who they are. Likewise, we find a growing proportion of boys who are disengaged not only from school but from the real world. Those boys are comfortable in the virtual world, where they play their online video games, and/or surf the net for photographs of girls."
Biography
Sax graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT) in 1980 with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. He completed the combined M.D.-Ph.D. program at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
in 1986. His Ph.D. was in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
. He completed the 3-year residency in family practice at Lancaster General Hospital
Lancaster General Hospital
Lancaster General Hospital is a hospital in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1893 in a small home on Queen Street, its headquarters are still located in Lancaster.-External Links:...
(Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
) in 1989. In 1990, he founded Poolesville Family Practice, a primary care practice in Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...
. He retired from medical practice in the spring of 2008 in order to be "a better husband and a better father, and also in order to have more time to visit schools, to learn more about gender differences, to lead professional development workshops. . ."
Praise
A March 7, 2005, cover story for Time Magazine included this statement: "Until recently, there have been two groups of people: those who argue sex differences are innate and should be embraced and those who insist that they are learned and should be eliminated by changing the environment. Sax is one of the few in the middle -- convinced that boys and girls are innately different and that we must change the environment so differences don't become limitations."In an op-ed column in the New York Times published June 11, 2006, David Brooks
David Brooks (journalist)
David Brooks is a Canadian-born political and cultural commentator who considers himself a moderate and writes for the New York Times...
calls Dr. Sax's first book, Why Gender Matters, "a lucid guide to male and female brain differences."
Dr. Sax's second book, Boys Adrift, was reviewed by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in December 2007. According to the review, Boys Adrift is "powerfully and persuasively presented," and provides "excellent and informative references and information." The review concludes that "Boys Adrift is at its strongest in providing practical advice to parents about how to increase their sons' academic motivation; how to set appropriate limits on video game use; and how to protect their sons from the potential harm of psychotropic medications and environmental estrogens. Boys Adrift is at its weakest in supporting the thesis that there is an epidemic of unmotivated and underachieving young men."
Dr. Sax's third book Girls on the Edge was reviewed by Library Journal which called the book ". . .essential reading for parents and teachers, and one of the most thought-provoking books on teen development available.” Mark Bauerlein
Mark Bauerlein
Mark Bauerlein is an English professor at Emory University and the author of 2008 book The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future . Bauerlein earned his doctorate in English from UCLA in 1988 and has taught at Emory since 1989...
, professor at Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
, reviewed Girls on the Edge for the Chronicle of Higher Education and called it "crucial" and said that "Parents of tween and teen girls would do well to check this book." Booklist called Girls on the Edge "persuasive, often fascinating . . .a holistic, sobering call to help the current generation of young women develop the support and sense of self that will allow them to grow into resilient adults.” According to a January 2011 review in the Atlantic magazine, Girls on the Edge is ". . .the best book about the current state of girls and young women in America."
Criticism
Mark LibermanMark Liberman
Mark Liberman is an American linguist. He has a dual appointment at the University of Pennsylvania, as Trustee Professor of Phonetics in the Department of Linguistics, and as a professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. He is the founder and director of the Linguistic Data...
, a professor of linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
at the University of Pennsylvania, questioned on his blog, Language Log
Language Log
Language Log is a collaborative language blog maintained by University of Pennsylvania phonetician Mark Liberman.The site is updated daily at the whims of the contributors, and most of the posts are on language use in the media and popular culture. Google search results are frequently used as a...
, many of the claims which Sax made in his first book Why Gender Matters. Liberman and other contributors to Liberman's blog claimed Sax made use of small differences between sexes to make sweeping generalizations about sex differences; Liberman also argued that there were often only tenuous connections between the assertions made in Why Gender Matters and the citations used to support those assertions. Liberman asserted that there were serious problems with Sax's claims about sex differences in hearing, vision, and connections between emotions and language. Liberman argued that many of Sax's claims in Why Gender Matters were inaccurate and pseudoscientific. Sax initially responded to Liberman's criticism on the NASSPE website. In March 2011, on the web site of Why Gender Matters, Sax acknowledged that the points he made regarding sex differences in hearing, sex differences in vision, and sex differences in mathematical computation were inaccurate. He now provides updated references to scholarly papers on these three issues, while conceding that his discussion of sex differences in threshold auditory acuity in Why Gender Matters was mistaken.
Sax's advocacy of single-sex public education has also attracted criticism. In March 2008, New York Times Magazine published a lengthy piece deeply critical of Sax's advocacy of single-sex education; the article was written by freelancer
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
Elizabeth Weil. In addition to describing Liberman's criticism of Sax, the article asserted that "many academics and progressives tend to find Sax’s views stereotyped and infuriating". She also described critics as stating that Sax's message of essential gender differences "is at odds with one of the most foundational principles of America’s public schools." She concluded that graduates of single-sex schools are less likely to understand American principles of "commonality, tolerance and what it means to be American." The article also cited criticism by the head of the Faculty of Education of the University of Cambridge. Sax responded on the NASSPE website that the criticism in this article is due to a biased view of single-sex education, and he claimed that the article included many errors of fact.
National and international media
Sax has contributed articles and made appearances in the popular media of a number of different countries. In the United States, Sax was a guest on the TODAY show July 31, 2007. Matt LauerMatt Lauer
Matthew Todd "Matt" Lauer . is an American television journalist best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997. He was previously a news anchor in New York and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond...
interviewed Sax about the controversy surrounding boys' achievement, which was the topic of the cover story in Time Magazine that week. Sax was first a guest on the TODAY show February 15, 2005. Al Roker
Al Roker
Albert Lincoln "Al" Roker, Jr. is an American television meteorologist as well as an actor and book author. He is best known as being the weather anchor on NBC's Today. On Monday, July 20, 2009, he began co-hosting his new morning show, Wake Up with Al, on The Weather Channel, which airs weekdays...
interviewed Sax about his book Why Gender Matters. In Canada, Sax was a guest in the Toronto studio of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for an interview broadcast nationwide on January 18, 2008. In Australia, Sax was a guest in the studio for the Today Show, interviewed by Jessica Rowe. In New Zealand, Sax was a studio guest of New Zealand's Channel One in May 2008 for a discussion of single-sex public education. In the United Kingdom, Sax was the subject of a full-page feature article in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, and was also featured in an article which appeared in the Daily Mail on January 24, 2008.
On May 10, 2010, Sax was a guest on CNN's American Morning, discussing his book Girls on the Edge and some of the challenges facing girls in the era of texting and Facebook. He was again a guest on CNN's American Morning on August 20, 2010, discussing recent research suggesting that ADHD is over-diagnosed in American schoolchildren. He returned as a guest on national television in New Zealand on August 6, 2010, discussing the girl-specific challenges of 'the cyberbubble'.
Popular press
- "Child psychiatry is sick with hidden conflicts of interest" New York Daily News December 14, 2008.
- "The boy problem: why so many boys think reading is stupid and school stinks" School Library Journal September 1, 2007.
- "Single-sex education: Separate but better?" Philadelphia Daily NewsPhiladelphia Daily NewsThe Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The newspaper is owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Daily News began publishing on March 31, 1925, under...
, March 1, 2006. - "The Promise and the Peril of Single-Sex PUBLIC Education". Education Week, March 2, 2005, pp. 48, 34, 35.
- "Too Few Women: Figure It Out". Los Angeles Times, January 23, 2005, p. M5.
- "Teens Will Speed. Let's Watch Them Do It". The Washington Post, November 28, 2004, p. B8.
- "The Odd Couple: Hillary Clinton & Kay Bailey Hutchison". The Women's Quarterly [the journal of the Independent Women's ForumIndependent Women's ForumThe Independent Women's Forum is an American conservative, non-profit, non-partisan research and educational institution focused on domestic and foreign policy issues of concern to women...
], Summer 2002, pp. 14–16. - "Single Sex Education: Ready for Prime Time?" The World & I, August 2002, pp. 257–269.
- "Rethinking Title IX" The Washington TimesThe Washington TimesThe Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
, July 2, 2001, p. A17. - "Ritalin: Better living through chemistry?" The World & I, November 2000, 287-299.
Scholarly articles
- "Polyethylene terephthalate may yield endocrine disruptors." Environmental Health Perspectives, published April 2010, full text available online at NIH/NIEHS website.
- "Six Degrees of Separation: what teachers need to know about the emerging science of sex differences". Educational Horizons, Spring 2006, pp. 190–200.
- "The Diagnosis and Treatment of ADHD in Women". The Female Patient 29 (2004): 29-34.
- "Dietary Phosphorus Is Toxic for Girls But Not for Boys". In Victor Preedy (ed.) Annual Reviews in Food & Nutrition London, UK: Taylor & Francis Publishers, 2003, pp. 158–168.
- "Who First Suggests the Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? A survey of primary-care pediatricians, family physicians, and child psychiatrists". Annals of Family Medicine 1 (2003): 171-174. [With Kathleen J. Kautz]
- "What Was the Cause of Nietzsche's Dementia?" Journal of Medical Biography 11 (2003): 47-54.
- "How Common Is Intersex?" Journal of Sex ResearchJournal of Sex ResearchThe Journal of Sex Research is a scientific journal published by the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality . In 1963, the society had published a one-issue journal entitled Advances in Sex Research...
39 (2002): 174-178. - "Maybe Men and Women Are Different". American PsychologistAmerican PsychologistThe American Psychologist is the official academic journal of the American Psychological Association. It contains archival documents and articles covering current issues in psychology, the science and practice of psychology, and psychology's contribution to public policy...
July (2002): 444-445. - "The Institute of Medicine's "Dietary Reference Intake" for Phosphorus: a critical perspective". Journal of the American College of Nutrition 20 (2001): 271-278.
- "Reclaiming Kindergarten: making kindergarten less harmful to boys". Psychology of Men and Masculinity 2 (2001): 3-12.
- "Characteristics of spatiotemporal integration in the priming and rewarding effects of medial forebrain bundle stimulation". Behavioral NeuroscienceBehavioral neuroscienceBehavioral neuroscience, also known as biological psychology, biopsychology, or psychobiology is the application of the principles of biology , to the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behavior in human and non-human animals...
105 (1991): 884-900. [With C. R. Gallistel] - "Temporal integration in self-stimulation: a paradox". Behavioral Neuroscience 98 (1984): 467-468.