Boy crisis

Articles like this one in the Washington Post really piss me off. Apparently boys are falling behind academically and something must be done. Right. Because all those years that girls were "falling behind" (read: being ignored in any academic situation that didn't involve poetry or home economics) no one seemed to be quite as upset about it. But now, people are proposing a "complete overhaul of American education based on gender, saying that boys are wired differently from girls". Apparently boys "are at a disadvantage in the many classrooms headed by female teachers, who are supposedly hostile to their sex." The author of this piece does not seem to agree with these proposals and neither do I. She seems to think the trouble is apparent in poorer, racially diverse groups than in the middle- and upper-class groups of white boys, which makes sense to me, because according to research -- uh, duh -- people with more money and lighter skin have access to better schools and stronger resources. But this article in Newsweek seems to says that boys across the board have it rough. Aw. The poor dears.

These so-called experts want to institute a different form of education for boys, one with concentrations in "boy" things, like military training and/or sports. Seriously. As if to say boys CAN'T handle academics because they're wired differently. So give them a break. They need to be in a masculine environment to succeed. Don't EVEN get me started on this.

It's funny -- historically, men have spent a great deal of time and energy proclaiming their own greatness, their superiority. There was even a time when men thought it was a scientifically valid argument that they had larger brains than women. (I think they were operating under the wrong definition for "brain" myself.) Now, it is like they are saying, "Wah wah, no fair. We're not doing as well. Something must be wrong."
Meanwhile, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it seem white men have never had it better than they do right now? Not all men but definitely privileged white men. I mean between insider trading, stock scandals and stolen elections, white men don't seem to be suffering because their female counterparts are suddenly excelling in school.

And one of these days someone has GOT to smack Laura Bush upside the head. How someone with 2 daughters -- 2 daughters who could use a little more parental attention, if you ask me, if nothing more than to teach them how to dress and hold their liquor -- can make a statement about "turning her attention to the problem of boys" is beyond me.

I have nephews. And I love them. But I worry sometimes that they are growing up in a world that says it is okay to whine about thing being unfair when things don't go your way. Which is what these articles are doing. Whether the writers in question agree or disagree with this phenomenon, writing articles about it gives it validity as a news story. Suddenly girls are succeeding academically -- or I don't think its so sudden because the smartest kids in my grammar school were always girls -- and there must be something wrong. It must be because academics are skewed against boys, or boys are wired differently so we have to give them different goals. If girls had tried to pull this shit, we would be seen as whiny, weak, inferior. As if we couldn't tough it out.

I'm not saying that if I had a son I wouldn't want him to do well. I would probably hope that he did better than everyone. That's what loving your kids is about, I imagine. But I don't think the world should change every time some group decides they're disadvantaged. Disadvantages are racial prejudices, poverty -- not "Mary did better than me on the SATs. Mom, Dad, let's sue the school". (A high school student in Massachusetts is actually suing his high school). I mean Albert Einstein went to school with girls, Thomas Edison went to school with girls, Jonas Salk went to school with girls. And their parents didn't read this book. Granted when they went to school, it was the girls' parents who could have used a book like that.

Okay, I'm done with this rant. Suggestion for the day -- I know that Barnes & Noble and Amazon are super convenient, but if you live in New York, try to shop at independent bookstores? It's no secret they're disappearing. But there are some great ones left -- like McNally Robinson. I go to readings there sometimes if you guys want to come with.