The New Gender Gap: From kindergarten to grad school, boys are becoming the second sex

BusinessWeek ^ | May 26, 2003 | Michelle Conlin

[Timesink]

Lawrence High is the usual fortress of manila-brick blandness and boxy 1960s architecture. At lunch, the metalheads saunter out to the smokers' park, while the AP types get pizzas at Marinara's, where they talk about -- what else? -- other people. The hallways are filled with lip-glossed divas in designer clothes and packs of girls in midriff-baring track tops. The guys run the gamut, too: skate punks, rich boys in Armani, and saggy-panted crews with their Eminem swaggers. In other words, they look pretty much as you'd expect.

[HatSteel]

The system doesn't like maleness. For the same reason that cows and steers are preferred over bulls (bulls are dangerous) females are preferred over males. And preferred males are those who submit to being psychologically castrated.

The non-castrated males are identified as ADHD and drugged into compliance.

This society will wake up some day and realize it has done a terrible thing to a wonderful asset.

[Paradox]

Its part of the cultural problem we have. Young men are no longer encouraged to be smart, because it makes them "non-urban". This desire to be "urban" has engulfed the male population of all ethnic groups and races. "Urbanity" can be described as thug-like behaviour, combined with ignorance. As the comedian Chris Rock says in his comedy routing "Bigger and Blacker" (I believe), one of the things he hates most about n*ggaz, is that "N*ggaz love 'not to know'. You ask them a question, and they says 'hell, I dunno'".. Substitute "urban" for n*gga and you get the picture, since this urbanity crosses all color lines.

While the same might be said for females, this is not the case. A woman today can still be "cool" by being smart AND sexy. So we have bright girls today showing their midriffs, exposing their tatoos and navel piercings. But it is OK, if not preferred, to be educated for them.

[glory]

Boy am I ever familiar with this attitude. My son does not talk yet(3) however he seems to understand pretty well and just behaves selective in his hearing(his hearing is fine btw). He just does not want to talk yet.
Yet, when we had him evaluated they wanted us to take him to everyone under the son--his treatment would practically take him out of our care for a good 50 hours a week(since they wanted him in the preschool thing at school) from being cared for by me since birth.
Needless to say, we have taken no further action and have just been encouraging him to use words more and I'm examining curriculum that homeschoolers use for children with "delayed" speech.
We plan to homeschool both of our children--one girl(who would have started kinder this fall) and a boy(3)

[Braak]

Agreed, and frankly, it's deeper than that. We have an education system that frankly, is so broken, I really am left wondering if 9 times out of 10, the grades they hand out mean a darn thing?

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Looks like it is back to clubs and dragging them around by the hair, guys. (Of course, I am just kidding. Clubs are outlawed.)

[MikeAtTheShore]

"In my experience, most boys are simply bored with school and would be better off doing something more interesting (and more productive, in the long run) with their time.

The irony of this story is amazing -- girls have become more dominant in the American classroom at the same time the quality of American education has declined considerably."

Bingo...........You win the jackpot. I have have 2 girls and 2 boys. We have noticed this trend for a long time. The schools only seem interested in training little obedient secretaries.

[Wolverine]

Check this

Homeschool World

[Nataku X]

Yes, they believe it is mostly BS, but it is still very, very foolish of them to just to slack off or to act as if grades don't count.

Freepers agree that blacks are to blame for blacks not doing well in school, the same goes for males.

[longtermmemmory]

Having family in the educational system, I can tell you there is actual hostility to teaching boys. I had the misfortune of meeting a teacher who basically considers this new gender gap a good thing. Every boy on ritalin is on less competitor to a woman. (her personal opinion)

On an observation, we hail girls who make a mistake, get pregnant, and go to school. Single fathers are ordered to drop out of school, get a job and pay support. Granted mistakes are being made but there is ZERO effort to encourage boys. There is every effort to make illegal the concept of boys will be boys. The feminized pc school system lives by the system that boys shall be weak girls.

[biblewonk]

Women are the weaker sex no matter what this magazine or the rest of the world says.

[Dan from Michigan]

Since 1964, for example, the voting rate in Presidential elections among men has fallen from 72% to 53% Mortenson

That can kill us politically right there.

[Leisler]

It is not "society," it is the left, who are employed and set the academic feminine, queer, passivity victimolgy of the schools. Male boys, as opposed to wimp single mom hysterical boys are put through soviet style psychological sickness regimes along the lines of "if you continue to be physical, masculine, hands on, high energy, barrier busting and most importantly fun loving" we're going to medicate you.

Brave new world.

[Jim Noble]

I think girls have always been favored in the early primary grades.

However, when I went to public school, beginning in about grade 5, we turned our attention increasingly to things of practical significance (math, science, wood and metal shop, etc) in preparation for becoming Masters of the Universe.

When my sons went to public high school, most practical matters seemed to have disappeared from the curriculum. High school juniors are now treated like third-graders, and it is not surprising that girls, who have always "ruled" third grade now rule high school as well (at a time in their lives when they have other advantages over boys).

"Boyness" does not lend itself to "soft" regimentation, which is now the purpose of public education.

[Nataku X]

The truth, as in most cases, probably lies in between. You have your observations and certianly I trust your observations--there is a lot of things that could be fixed about the school system.

I have my own observations, and all my friends are male (since I'm a tomboy). Most girls we talk to just don't care about the lastest programming langauges/skills, programming competitions like TopCoder... often, they act as if they don't even like computers or programming. But they'll faithfully study and do their best on exams and on homeworks.

Most of my male friends love putting together new programs, building computers & robots (all of this outside of class) and learning new languages/techniques, but they couldn't care less about doing well in classes. That part, at least, has nothing to do with the professors, classes, or with the college.

Whatever hardships they may have gone through in the public school system, it is their own darned fault that they're failing in college.

[Jim Noble]

Paging Dr. Danger, paging Dr. Danger.

Dr. Danger, please report to the OR...

[shezza]

Thirty years ago, educational experts launched what's known as the "Girl Project." The movement's noble objective was to help girls wipe out their weaknesses in math and science, build self-esteem, and give them the undisputed message: The opportunities are yours; take them. Schools focused on making the classroom more girl-friendly by including teaching styles that catered to them. Girls were also powerfully influenced by the women's movement, as well as by Title IX and the Gender & Equity Act, all of which created a legal environment in which discrimination against girls -- from classrooms to the sports field -- carried heavy penalties.

There you have it, in a nutshell. The name of the game has been not so much to empower girls as to suppress boys. For some reason, pro-girl is usually anti-boy. You just have to look at boys (young men) today to see the results of this social engineering experiment.

[Dan from Michigan]

while boys are told to "sit still and shut up".

I never listened well. Maybe that's why I spend some time in the office.

[longtermmemmory]

Whatever hardships they may have gone through in the public school system, it is their own darned fault that they're failing in college.
*** * * * * *** *

And if they succeed its because of good parents. The real problem is that the issues are starting in the early years when guidance is needed most. Call it tender years doctrine.

I wonder how the degree breakdowns go. I have notice an increase in vocational schools. (something boys are tracked to go to in california)

Title 9 also wiped out scholarship programs that many young men used to get degrees. (wrestling scholarships are disapearing and those included many scholars) Despite the dumb jock cliche, many student athletes realize they are students first, athleats second.

your attitude does identify a problem. Women don't care. To women in the educational system this is not a crisis this is a triumph. They don't want it fixed.

[tbpiper]

It is not "society," it is the left, who are employed and set the academic feminine, queer, passivity victimolgy of the schools.

Speaking of 'left' the advertising media, without fail, always shows the male (particularly a father)as being a moron and the female as the smart one. Given that a lot of kids get their role modles from the tube, it has to have some impact. Networks don't help when they produce visual feces like "The Man Show".

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

from the article:
[As it stands, the result is that too many boys are diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder or its companion, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The U.S. -- mostly its boys -- now consumes 80% of the world's supply of methylphenidate (the generic name for Ritalin). That use has increased 500% over the past decade, leading some to call it the new K-12 management tool. There are school districts where 20% to 25% of the boys are on the drug, says Paul R. Wolpe, a psychiatry professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the senior fellow at the school's Center for Bioethics: "Ritalin is a response to an artificial social context that we've created for children."]

Too many clueless women teachers, (and a few who don't like anything male/masculine), demanding that little boys behave like little girls in overcrowded classrooms w/o enough normal physical activity.
Today Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn would be drugged and sedated their entire childhood. What will the future Delta Forces look like?
And, the flurry of school schootings in the past several years by teenage boys - there must be a connection.