why does this crud continue

[lumberjack_jeff]

72. By asking me, you're getting only one man's opinion.

The attitudes of boys in school is drastically different than when I was young. In my graduating class at a small rural school (1980), the valedictorian and the salutatorian were both male. The class speaker was female. The top 10 were made up of about half boys and girls and their average gpa was about 3.6 or 3.7. In the class of 2012, every single one of the top 10 students were female, with an average gpa of 3.95-ish, yet they're largely ignorant of things I knew well by 10th grade.

Are the boys truly not learning? Oddly, despite having poor grades, boys standardized test scores are better than girls. Apparently, teachers are assigning grades primarily on other factors than apprehension of the subject matter.

What's the difference in the last 30 years? When I was in grade school, there were several male teachers with whom I could identify, and I understood the expectation that I was to do my best. Discipline was immediate and effective. Students today are unlikely to experience a male teacher until middle school (only 8% of primary school teachers are male). Discipline is deferred, used indiscriminately and in the least effective form. ("Suspension? Pfft!&quot .

In second grade, my now 19 year old son was suspended by the female principal for "pre-gang activity". (Every guy who wasn't a member of an army, tribe, gang or club in 2nd grade - raise your hand) He was later suspended for a week in the 8th grade for passing notes about airsoft guns. When my 22 year old son (who gets married on Sunday) started kindergarten, I clearly remember the conversation with his teacher who expressed dread at the coming school year because there were more than half boys in her class. (11, iirc)

If a male student gets through high school while retaining any degree of academic interest (it is apparent that none from my alma mater did so this year), they are then faced with the hurdle of financing. For every scholarship for boys there are at least two (well funded) ones for girls.

Title IX precludes any kind of meaningful outreach to recruit men to college, but that doesn't appear to be the case for women. The US department of education maintains a program entitled "the women's educational equity" program which gives out grants and funding for programs to increase the margin by which women dominate education.

My kids are both very intelligent, and they're going to do fine, but I had different aspirations for them when they were little. The older went to truck driving school in Utah, and the younger is taking diesel mechanics classes at the local community college. We've produced a generation of missed opportunities in the name of gender justice.

In fairness, "50% more likely" is a bit hyperbolic. Women are about 57% of college graduates so .57/.43 = 32% more likely.