Newspaper Punctures Myth of ‘the Boy Crisis’
The Washington Post refutes an earlier Newsweek cover story that claimed boys are falling badly behind girls in public school education.The Washington Post refutes an earlier Newsweek cover story that claimed boys are falling badly behind girls in public school education.
WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO…Washington Post:
The Myth of ‘The Boy Crisis’
By Caryl Rivers and Rosalind Chait Barnett Sunday, April 9, 2006; B01
It was the early 1900s, and boys were supposedly in crisis. In monthly magazines, ladies’ journals and books, urgent polemics appeared, warning that young men were spending too much time in school with female teachers and that the constant interaction with women was robbing them of their manhood. In Congress, Sen. Albert Beveridge of Indiana railed against overeducation. He urged young men to “avoid books and in fact avoid all artificial learning, for the forefathers put America on the right path by learning completely from natural experience.”
What boys needed, the experts said, was time outdoors, rubbing elbows with one another and learning from male role models. That’s what led — at least in part — to the founding of the Boy Scouts in 1910.
Now the cry has been raised again: We’re losing our boys. The media have been hyping America’s new “boy crisis” in magazine cover stories, a PBS documentary and countless newspaper articles. Boys, these reports lament, are falling behind in academic achievement, graduating from high school at lower rates than girls, occupying fewer seats in college classrooms, displaying poorer verbal skills.
If you're reading this, you probably already know that non-profit, independent journalism is under threat worldwide. Independent news sites are overshadowed by larger heavily funded mainstream media that inundate us with hype and noise that barely scratch the surface. We believe that our readers deserve to know the full story. Truthdig writers bravely dig beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that tells you what’s really happening and who’s rolling up their sleeves to do something about it.
Like you, we believe a well-informed public that doesn’t have blind faith in the status quo can help change the world. Your contribution of as little as $5 monthly or $35 annually will make you a groundbreaking member and lays the foundation of our work.
Harvey efforts expose lingering resentment over Sandy, underscoring regional divisions in a deeply divided GOP grappling with the crisis.
From the archives: The veteran social activist, drawing upon his own rude political awakening to the realities of Israeli and Middle East politics during the 1980s, warns that the Israel lobby in the US aims to roll back the clock and change the map of the region, and that its neoconservative supporters will probably try to use the current Middle East crisis to ignite a larger war against Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran
From the archives: The veteran social activist, drawing upon his own rude political awakening to the realities of Israeli and Middle East politics during the 1980s, warns that the Israel lobby in the U.
Ending down 16.23 percent by the end of Monday, Athens' stock market experienced its worst daily performance since at least 1985, when modern record keeping began.
Here’s a novel approach to the Greek financial crisis: A "Greek Bailout Fund" launched by an Englishman has received almost 30,000 donations.
An international disorder unmatched since the interwar 1930s has been created by the drama of Ukraine and the Russians, combined with the inherent self-destructive forces of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the developing civil war over theological as well as political issues inside the Islamic states, and the serious risk of collapse in the European Union.
People in power and bureaucrats seem exceptionally obtuse when it comes to recognizing that the world has changed and the old rules no longer apply.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.