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This article ("The Boy Crisis (Again)") has got me thinking, and thinking things I'd like to discuss.
First of all: rather than "The Boy Crisis", can we say "The Education Crisis"? FFS, a failing education system helps NO ONE. (By this I mean "not Liss", because I know she says it from the viewpoint of irony. I mean the original author / commenters / etc.)
Second: the SATs ARE bullshit. And this is from someone who scored a 1570/1600 on them.
Third, and longest: I can sum this article up basically by being like "OMFG NOOOOO, BOYS NOW HAVE TO WORK HARD TOO." And it - that thought - I've never actually put this together like this before, but as a girl going into science and engineering, I was told - it was implied - I knew I'd have to work FUCK-HARD to get anywhere I wanted to. I've been "trying" for a while, doing more than "passing", more than "meets", because that was the way I had to "prove myself."
And now boys are getting the same message?
*tiniest violin*
First of all: rather than "The Boy Crisis", can we say "The Education Crisis"? FFS, a failing education system helps NO ONE. (By this I mean "not Liss", because I know she says it from the viewpoint of irony. I mean the original author / commenters / etc.)
Second: the SATs ARE bullshit. And this is from someone who scored a 1570/1600 on them.
Third, and longest: I can sum this article up basically by being like "OMFG NOOOOO, BOYS NOW HAVE TO WORK HARD TOO." And it - that thought - I've never actually put this together like this before, but as a girl going into science and engineering, I was told - it was implied - I knew I'd have to work FUCK-HARD to get anywhere I wanted to. I've been "trying" for a while, doing more than "passing", more than "meets", because that was the way I had to "prove myself."
And now boys are getting the same message?
*tiniest violin*
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I would love to do away with useless tests, because they've never done much for me! XD
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Standardised tests are the bane of education. One of the banes. There are many, of course.
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Oh, right, it's all we ever think about already. Because nothing is a crisis until it's affecting the boys.
I agree; the crisis is not with "boys", it's with education in the USA, and with a culture that doesn't value education. And I get suspicious, too, because history has shown, over and over, that once any particular activity or arena becomes more associated with women, it becomes devalued. Teaching as a profession, for one particularly relevant example.
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One does wonder why boys don't perform as well in schools. Because they've actually been taught that they shouldn't strive to do well? Because our society is both male-centric and education-phobic no matter how much it pretends otherwise, and therefore it's seen as "uncool" to be an academically-minded young man? (There does seem to be this thing about "jocks" and "nerds," after all...)
So the solution is actually to completely overthrow traditional gender roles? I know I've been an advocate of that for a good long time, but good luck making it actually happen.
Have you seen the Superbowl commercials recently?no subject
*OF COURSE I KNOW that this is just my experience and a huge generalization and I am not saying that all guy engineers are like this! But I've seen it enough that *I* noticed it. Is all I'm saying.
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Academia is not a friendly place.
That is coupled with people trying to streamline the education system. No one can fail, not till you get to college. That leaves people entirely unprepared for college at large and thus heavily weighs college in the favor of people whose parents have gone and whose parents can afford expensive tutors.
Hell, even when I was trying to get into graduate school, I heard at least five times "Your father is probably an engineer". I realize it wasn't meant this way, but it came off as if I couldn't make the choice to get into the field on my own.
/rant.