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Your statement seems to blame the boys. I don't think extra activities are the problem. The punishment given to boys at an early age fits for girls but is the worst thing you could do for boys. They are expected to act like girls. And then there is the feminazis in leadership positions. No, I think the schools and the system are to blame.

Not a bit actually. I think it is a bunch of factors, one big one being the absence or presence of a strong male figure in the household. I agree with a lot of what you say. We should realize that boys and girls are different and I think a lot of people still do. My statement there was reflective that sometimes our priorities get mixed up. Sometimes TV and other things become more important than "important" things. And that could probably apply to a lot of us. I know it applies to me. We can put all of our eggs in one basket and blame the "system" (prisoners, liberals, some Hurricane Katrina survivors, and others are good at that already), but it also includes things like the family unit, individual responsibility and effort, parental involvement, media, and so on and so on. In other words, there's a variety of things to consider. After a certain age, I am responsible for my own choices and their consequences and I have learned that the hard way. I'm a dum-dum idiot because of my own efforts, not someone else's fault. :)

You sound like a teacher. I do blame the system. I have had to work extra hard to counter their detrimental behavior. My boys learned at an early age that you can't trust teachers, schools and district administration. I didn't do that nor did the activities of my family. We are a strong, two parent traditional family. No divorce and balanced activities. My boys both score in the 99%tile. I wish I could have put them in private school.

but it also includes things like the family unit, individual responsibility and effort, parental involvement, media, and so on and so on. ( moog)

To moog,

A government school teacher or principal can not address parenting in the home. Why? Government schools can't because the advice that must be dished out is NOT politically correct. If any teacher were to really take parents to task for poor parenting they would be fired.

Another problem is that no one is held accountable in the government system. The parent is forced to send their child to government school and the government school is forced to accept them. Geeze! Where's the accountability there?

Only a private school can dish out the (sometimes offensive) advice to parents that can really make a difference, and teach the values that are more likely to lessen the incidence of single motherhood.

Not a bit actually. I think it is a bunch of factors, one big one being the absence or presence of a strong male figure in the household. ( moog)

To moog,

A government school can not teach the values that would lead to fewer single moms.

But,,,,I bet my 7th grade nun, Sr. Margaret Victoria, at my elementary school, St. Joan of Arc, would have had plenty of plain, easy to understand comments about to both parents and children.

If you want to see the moral values of society improve then lobby for the privatization of universal K-12 education. The parents ( mostly single moms) most in need of clear moral values and practical help and suggestion on creating education conducive homes can only hear it from private sources. Private schools can be one of those sources.

While I believe that you, personally, are a good influence on the students you teach, your influence on the parents can only be very limited. Why? This is so, because you can not have the entire government school system supporting the values that would really make a difference.

I promise you that at St. Joan of Arc moral and educational values were integrated into every subject and in every classroom, and were again reinforced at our local Catholic high school. Guess What? Single parenthood was frowned upon and in clear language plainly discouraged.