"They don't want to be girls."
I read the following article in the Chicago Sun-Times, Sunday, August 6, 2006; it ran under the title "The Feminized American Classroom and How it Hurts Boys." The article first appeared the City-Journal.
From "How the Schools Shortchange Boys":
The notion of male ethical inferiority first arises in grammar school, where women make up the overwhelming majority of teachers. It’s here that the alphabet soup of supposed male dysfunctions begins. And make no mistake: while girls occasionally exhibit symptoms of male-related disorders in this world, females diagnosed with learning disabilities simply don’t exist.
Speaking of school...
From N.S.'s column this past Friday:
As the Sun-Times has shown several times in its "Critical Years" surveys, one of the school system's major challenges is exactly that: The kids who begin kindergarten are messed up at the start.
Half arrive at their first day of school unable to identify the colors red, blue and yellow. Half are unable to speak in complete sentences.
Half do not know how to hold a pencil or a crayon, never mind write with one. Half can't tell you their last names -- heck, some kids show up for school and don't even know their first names, only a street tag -- "They call me 'Lil Man.' " It takes a special parent to send their child to school without knowing his name -- actually, not so special, which is heartbreaking.
The surveys were last taken a dozen years ago, but the situation hasn't changed. Students are "messed up" at the start -- angry, unaccustomed to learning, unaccustomed to discipline, and ready to fail.
And now [the Rev. James] Meeks is going to address the situation by blaming the mayor -- whom impartial observers laud for doing so much with a school system that was on life support when he showed up. This is Meeks' first step, no doubt, in the same cynical shake-down scam that worked with such great effect on Gov. Blagojevich, who folded like a paper fan.
Just what the black community needs. Another demagogue to bang the gong of grievance and tell his audience that all of their problems are some powerful white guy's fault. Education is one social issue where each individual can make a huge impact. Good parents know that. They'd laugh at anybody who told them to sit on their hands until the government cooks up a program to teach their children their names. For Meeks to spread that message for his own selfish political reasons is a betrayal of the people he purports to serve. [Emphasis added.]
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