I've been saying this a long time. It's not helped by the fact that, whatever the goverment in power is, teaching and Educatrion in gedneral is in te hands of these same middle-class liberal White people. People who , by demanding that schools and teachers devote extra resources and time to girls and BIPOC students, sold White boys short. Because both resources and time are finite, so if some groups get more, others get proportionately less. The assumption that White boys would succeed regardless was built-in and of course untrue, and they've been losing out ever since.

Co-education hasn't helped. Leaving aside the issues os sexual harassment (which they should have seen coming) the fact is that to get the best out of girls takes a teacher who they can admire and respect. To get the best out of boys takes a teacher they're scared shitless of!