You get out of children what you EXPECT of them. Take a look around at the current culture and you’ll see why boys are failing – its what’s expected of them.

There is a parent questionnaire that asks such lame-brained questions such as:

“On a scale of 1 to 5 does your child break gender norms?”

“On a scale of 1 to 5 how ethnically and culturally sensitive is your child?”

“On a scale of 1 to 5 does your child realize that his/her ethnicity has entitled them to special privileges?”

I swear to God, I almost walked out but I scored him midling on all the asinine questions. Fortunately his IQ and test scores got him in. Now I am going through it again trying to get my youngest in as a kindergartner. Lord give me strength!

Homosexuality is, in my opinion, the new wedge issue for progressives to divide conservatives.

FastTalker on February 5, 2013 at 8:46 AM

Because they lay a clever trap by focusing on “hating people” instead of issues. Not sure if MKH was being sarcastic (I think so), but if not, this is the language the left forces us to adopt.

-Abortion is not about a Dr. Mengele-style procedure that ends someone’s life before it starts. It’s about women’s rights!
-Abortion/contraception isn’t about religious freedom, it’s about victims of incest being forced to bear their inbred spawn!
-Gay marriage isn’t about society, it’s about rewarding these two people who’ve loved each other for 50 years in shame and secret because you evil conservatives were trying to drag them out in the street to tar and feather them the whole time!
-Gun control isn’t about freedom vs. government control, it’s about protecting children!

Rhetorically, they create false dilemmas which conservatives accept as the terms of the argument, which is the mistake.

It’s like when you were a child and you knew a parent would argue with you. You’d argue until you passed out if you had to. That’s what liberals do when we accept their terms. The thing to do is point to the language of the second amendment: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” End of discussion.

If we can’t pinpoint the moment life starts, then we should follow the liberal climate-change cautionary model and assume the worst (life starts at conception). End of discussion.

If straight people shouldn’t define marriage for gays, then gays shouldn’t define it for straight people. End of discussion.

guy reading material, letting them play (I hope it is real play, not keeping them from dodgeball and stick fights), single-gender classes and male teachers.

My oldest will be attending one of the last all-male colleges (other than seminaries) in the fall. There are only 3 left — as opposed to something like 60 all-female colleges. It’s okay for a school to be for women only, but positively neanderthal if it wants to structure itself around the needs of men, you know.

This school has more acres than students and an armory where the guys keep their hunting rifles. As one dean of admin told parents of prospective students during our first visit, profs don’t ask, “How does this poem make you feel?”

I think what most caught my son’s attention is that the college has one of the strictest honor codes in the nation. While other schools were sending him brochures telling him about their great facilities or how successful their graduates are, this one’s marketing was all about building men of great character.

I really think our young men hunger for that — but they aren’t getting it in our high schools and universities which are all about feeeeelings and moral relativity.

What I deal with now is all kids not actually doing their work. They are simply refusing to actually do the work, resulting in zeros (F).
So this is something else entirely. Bcs I’ve got boys & girls doing that equally almost.

Badger40 on February 5, 2013 at 1:48 PM

This 100+
I cannot over emphisize this problem. The outright refusal to work, the students cry about writing 4 sentences. Ask them to read, the same problem. In fact we teachers were told to have pictures in most projects for the VISUAL learners. The results are that the students spend 80% of that project time drawing and the rest learning\ and copying the same statements(and I mean the exact same statements on 33 different projects) onto the project.

See teacher, I learned today. I learned that as a class if we collectivly do crappy I know you will lower the standards until we as students only do the work we want, which is not much.

Where do they go when they get out of college?

Voyager on February 5, 2013 at 8:24 AM

A lot of them – despite their devotion to feminism – graduate with MRS degrees.

As far as boys, I am shocked that the Brits have such a good idea of the potential fixes: guy reading material, letting them play (I hope it is real play, not keeping them from dodgeball and stick fights), single-gender classes and male teachers. It also helps if your math/science problems involve boy things (a word problem involving hitting Johnny with a dodge ball, or crashing trains will actually retain their attention; the first time a boy will pay attention in biology class is when you get to cut something open – especially if it’s squishy).

Kristamatic on February 5, 2013 at 10:30 AM

Yep. Get them to learn with hands-on. It’s still the best way to keep a boy’s interest in a subject.

Let’s kidnap some of hardest-core militant feminists, and force them to watch hours of “Duck Dynasty“.
Of course it’s a felony, but still . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

listens2glenn on February 4, 2013 at 8:42 PM

Anyone who has not seen Duck Dynasty is missing a special treat! Check it out.

Ummm…let me know when the National Football League spends the entire month of October promoting awareness of a disease that ONLY AFFECTS MEN.

Galtian on February 4, 2013 at 4:54 PM

I understand your point but men DO get breast cancer!

*No, I’m not dismissing the concerns of gay men and women looking for mates, but the problem of educationally mismatched women and men is particularly problematic for heterosexual women.

Mary Katharine, the fact that you felt it necessary to include this “disclaimer” at the conclusion of your article says far more about the absolute mess our culture is in than anything else in the article itself.

Shump on February 4, 2013 at 12:36 PM

I agree, Shump, we need to move forward with eyes wide open on the issue of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is, in my opinion, the new wedge issue for progressives to divide conservatives. I am not trying to start an argument here, I just want to point something out. The progressives are hitting the gay issue on all fronts in the media. Ask yourself why? I think it is because it divides conservatives (and certain groups therein) and independents from each other. This is similar to the abortion issue and even, in some small degree, the contraceptive issue. Now, you may ask, channeling HRC, What difference does it make? Well, there are always conservatives that say we should stay away from the abortion issue at election time, or stay away from other social issues during debates, etc. If we keep losing ground, and choose to not fight on issues of principle, aren’t we eventually going to have nowhere to stand? Aren’t some principle beliefs unchangeable? Absolutes?

This challenge isn’t going away.

As far as our boys are concerned, we have another fight on our hands. We need strong families with strong fathers, and, in my family, Christian school, where Christian values are taught and boys are nurtured to be men of God. We are in a tremendous struggle for the hearts, souls, and minds of our children. Pray and act. God is not neutral on this.

There are some in the software side of the house, and a scattering in the MechE and EE, but not all that many all put together.

Where do they go when they get out of college?

/you’re welcome

Actions always have consequences.
Most all people are now eunuchs, neither strong men nor strong women.
Just look around at any airport. The hallways are full of idiotic nondescript creatures.
Schadenfreude on February 4, 2013 at 12:33 PM

When boys are forced to be girls, they shut down

When boys are punished for being boys, they shut down

Political correctness forces boys to kiss the spurs of the conquerers

Meanwhile, most car mechanics are male, because people want their cars to work

My area has a small influx of eastern Euro types, Poles, Ukrainian, Russian, Baltic. The men stand out because they do not have the American metro male subservience. Not that our males are eunuchs, but they know they have to behave like them to not experience kickback. I have had encounters with several teen males, who remarked on the way females their age make passes and grabs at them, with impunity, that would get a boy busted. They know they are trapped in government enforced matriarchy

I find many feel the system is rigged to hold them down

TONS OF HOT, DELICIOUS FOOD!

BobMbx on February 4, 2013 at 12:59 PM

.
lol — finally. Someone making sense.

Axe on February 4, 2013 at 1:02 PM

.
Any one who disagrees with that, needs to watch “Duck Dynasty“.
.
.
Oh … wait … I GOT IT ! I GOT IT ! I GOT IT ! … (‘nother brainstorm) . . . . . . . .

Let’s kidnap some of hardest-core militant feminists, and force them to watch hours of “Duck Dynasty“.
Of course it’s a felony, but still . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Refreshingly masculine.

As opposed to most of the others where the man is portrayed as an idiot.