Author's intention

The second part of your essay question asks you to focus on the writer’s intention. The article “The Boys at the Back” by Christina Hoff Sommers suggests the writer may have had several intentions.

First, the author intended to inform the public and raise awareness about the issue of the gender gap in education. The fact that Sommers quotes studies on the topic is meant to show the readers that the gender gap in education is a real and important problem. Furthermore, the author’s intention is to criticize the American educational system, which, she argues, is biased against boys: “No previous study, to my knowledge, has demonstrated that the well-known gender gap in school grades begins so early and is almost entirely attributable to differences in behavior. The researchers found that teachers rated boys as less proficient…” (ll. 11-13)

Secondly, the author’s intention is to make the readers empathize with the boys’ situation and to realize that something must be done to help them improve...