Even in jest your article failed at getting the point. Perhaps the problem is that the education system is not built to accommodate boys. In this case the problem could be that the system itself hurts boys. Girls, then, would thrive is a single sex classroom because they would exist in a system perfect for their temperaments without being "polluted" by the square pegs being forced into the round holes.

You would not speak so if you had a little boy of your own. Even as a joke your article is in poor taste.

I raised a boy, I was greatly relieved when he could read and greatly relieved that he graduated from high school. He is doing very well now and has a boy of his own.

I think this article is pretty thought provoking. I can't imagine what we could do to the schools, that can realistically happen in this country, that would make school more effective for boys. Suggestions would be good.

Fewer academics is not a good suggestion, we have already diluted them too much for the sake of passing tests. More discipline allowed in the schools might be good, but most of the parents of boys don't seem to want that. More skilled teachers would be good, but we would rather have tax cuts.

In the meantime, and perhaps especially because of the state of the schools, boys need well educated mothers.

I have to wonder if they took into account male vs female teachers. Could it be that since the vast majority of teachers are female, that they are better at communicating and keeping order with younger females? Perhaps the kind of environment in which little boys thrive (strict discipline, team effort/reward) is rather different from the environment little girls thrive in (loose discipline, individual effort/reward). Maybe it's the feminine atmosphere that the teachers bring with them that is holding back the boys. Little boys don't need decorated bulletin boards or little animal stickers, but they do need hands on physical engagement with their work and an authority figure that the actually respect.

This is hilarious since the school system has changed VERY LITTLE in a hundred years and was designed to serve, primarily and often exclusively, BOYS. Think about it.

"Poor taste"? Given freedom and the First Amendment and the free exchange of ideas on the internet, your assertion of poor taste is in poor taste.

This is hilarious since the school system has changed VERY LITTLE in a hundred years and was designed to serve, primarily and often exclusively, BOYS. Think about it.

I'm not sure I agree there. There have been lots of changes. No more paddle wielding principals, rulers are now mostly used as straight edges, parents seem more likely to side with their children against the school rather than just accepting the schools word and punishing bad behavior, just to name a few. From the memories of my own education and the horror stories from my fiance (new high school english teacher), teachers seem almost incapable of handling disruptions in class, especially from males. Whether its because the system has changed or because college ed programs just don't spend enough time on classroom discipline I don't know, but there are reasons to think that boys have it tougher these days.

On the other hand, I'm a guy, and I never had any trouble at school. Maybe the solution is for parents to teach their kids how to sit down, be quite, and pay attention for an hour, I mean how hard is that?

Okay, okay! i concede that corporal punishment has been elminated. You dragged it out of me. And I'll agree that parents and lawyers would seem to have the upper hand. But neither of those are what I meant.

In many other ways school is the same. Age segregation. Bells. Primary subjects taught. Organizational structure. Authority structure. etc.

"Maybe the solution is for parents to teach their kids how to sit down, be quite, and pay attention for an hour, I mean how hard is that?"

That was my point in an earlier post. Our society (and hence its parents) seem to approve when boys engage in behaviors that are detrimental to learning and then we blame the school that they disrupt. It all starts with discipline. If you don't get it at home, you don't get self-discipline. If you don't get self-discipline, the state inevitably steps in.

Oh, and my grad school experience would suggest that indeed teachers-in-training do NOT learn enough about the successful application of discipline.

Drekdab said plenty, but I would like to add that while that outward structure that you, bsdetector, pointed out remains the same, those are not the things that matter as much as the things pointed out by Drekdab. There is nothing wrong with the outward structure. As the writer of the original article says, boys can't seem to sit still or just calmly follow the lesson plan. This isn't a problem if, for instance, you have small classrooms where attention can be devoted to keeping boys in line and lessons can be planned around the needs of the students as individuals.

As for the first amendment thing, that refers to legal actions not criticism.

No, undergrad courses do not prepare teachers for the real-world. Student teaching needs to go much further and teachers-in-training need much more cultural development than more theory on how the brain works at which stage. Your first day on the job is the single-most important day of the academic year and as a first-year teacher, you would be shoved into an overcrowded classroom with a cheerful, "Sink or swim, sweet'eart!"

Studies have shown that we tend to lose boys (especially minority males) around 3rd grade and these high stakes testing is not helping their motivation. Elementary school is a female domain and yes, that has adverse effects on the little boys. What's worse is that for the sake of passing state-required testing in Math and Reading, classtime dedicated to the arts, physical education, and science is decreasing.

Schools cannot control the homes their charges come from, their socioeconomic backgrounds, or race/gender/creed/etc. so we're left to come up with solutions that allow us to work within our means. Discipline, as you call it, of the physical sort is not beneficial and one has to keep in mind the possible horrors a child may have faced at home and think twice to adding more pain to his/her life. Positive incentives are proving to be much more effective, especially in today's fragmented world. But we need the support of the parents and the surrounding community.

My only beef, then, is that I'm sick and tired of hearing blame placed on schools for practically everything. We are not the children's parents. We are their guardians while they are with us but if you add up all the hours I would spend with a student over the course of one year it comes to 9.5 days. Those days do accumulate when you calculate in the other teachers, so I do my best to do my part. However, the school system is only one leg of a child's whole world.

Reminds me of the saying:

"If girls don't do well in a system, something is wrong with the system. If boys don't do well in a system, something is wrong with the boys."

You are absolutely correct. The educational system correlates beautifully with the talents and temperament of women. But that's to be expected. After all, the educational system is a reflection of the feminine perspective in its philosophy and it can be safely said in its administration.

But women rule more than education, they control most of our institutions. The result is that, there will be a society that is unfair to both boys and men. Face it, the truth is any society which is capitalistic and democratic will eventually find women rising to a position of dominant political and economic power. They already have in the U.S. and have been in that position for years before women, even knew it. Why? Because women control the money and, power follows money.

Studies I have read that women control up to 80% of the money in the U.S. Men might make more money but, it is the women who spend it. Business and politicians will cater to those who have the wallet. As one of the Rothschild’s said, "I don't care a twit who controls the politics, as long as I control the money." And since women have the money and thus the power, the design of every institution is eventually going to reflect the feminine perspective.

This is especially true of the educational system. In my experience as a teacher, I can tell you, women think they have a direct line to God's wisdom when it comes to raising children. Rules, guidelines, policies and procedures all reflect the female perspective.

Fact is, women often are enabling and overindulgent. This inevitably leads to a society of disrespectful and irresponsible adults. Follow the logic. As a kid I get away with misbehavior on a regular basis even when caught. Doesn't it follow that when I grow up I can do the same thing? And guess what, it’s getting more the case, you can!

Men, by and large, are much better at laying down rules, outlining specific consequences for their violation, and administering the appropriate consequences. The problem is we can't. Women, who run things, will be on our ass like white on rice. I get so tired of the old refrain, "they're just children" or "think of the children!" or, "the children are our future." While all this is true, I would like to know, when do we not treat them as children? And, I AM thinking of the children and your enabling behavior is ruining them. Lastly, yeah the children might be our future but, I am a great believer in taking better care of the present.

Yes, women rule in nearly every arena. I feel sorry for the boys and young men in our society. Of course, they'll adapt as much as they can, short of becoming an actual women. But, it is inevitable in our democratic/economic system. Just as inevitable is that eventually, a masculine based system will rise to power. Tragically, this is often revolutionary while the ascendancy of a feminine society is more evolutionary.

Hold on to your hats, this change is going to happen, the seeds of which can be seen now. High ranking members of Islam, a strongly male dominated religion which insists on strong integration of church and state, assert that one day Islam will rule the world. I don't know if they won't. But if it is not them, some other masculine system will attain supremacy. Then the cycle will start all over again. I wish we could settle on some kind of peaceful compromise but, it's not going to happen.

Well here we are guys, in a society designed by women and run by women. So why are we still getting the blame whenever anything goes wrong?

Studies I have read that women control up to 80% of the money in the U.S. Men might make more money but, it is the women who spend it. Business and politicians will cater to those who have the wallet. As one of the Rothchilds said, "I don't care a twit who controls the politics, as long as I control the money." And since women have the money and thus the power, the design of the of every institution is eventually going to reflect the feminine perspective.

This is especially true of the educational system. In my eperience as a teacher, I can tell you, women think they have a direct line to God's wisdom when it comes to raising children. Fact is, women often are enabling and overindulgent leading to a society of disrespectful and irresponsible adults. Follow the logic. As a kid I get away with misbehavior on a regular basis even when caught. Doesn't it follow that when I grow up I can do the same thing.

Men, by and large, are much better at laying down rules, outlining specific consequences for their violation, and administering the approriate consequences. The problem is, we can't. Women, who run things, will be on our ass like white on rice. I get so tired of the old refrain, "they're just children" or "think of the children!" or, "the children are our future." While all this is true, I would like to know, when do we not treat them as children? And, I AM thinking of the children and your enabling behavior is ruining them. Lastly, yeah the children might be our future but, I am a great believer in taking better care of the present.

Yes, women rule in nearly every arena. I feel sorry for the boys and young men in our society. Of course, they'll adapt as much as they can, short of becoming an actualy women. But, it is inevitable in our democratic/economic system. Just as inevitable is that eventually, a masculine based system will rise to power. Tragically, this is often revolutionary while the assendency of a feminine society is more evolutionary.

Hold on to your hats, this change is going to happen, the seeds of which can be seen now. High ranking members of Islam, a stronly male dominated religion which insists on strong intetgration of church and state, assert that one day Islam will rule the world. I don't know if they won't. But if it is not them, some other masculine system will attain supremacy. Then the cycle will start all over again. I wish we could settle on some kind of peaceful compromise but, it's not going to happen.

Well here we are guys, in a society designed by women and run by women. So why are we still getting the blame whenever anything goes wrong?

You are absolutely correct. The educational system correlates beautifully with the talents and temperament of women. But that's to be expected. After all, the educational system is a reflection of the feminine perspective in its philosophy and it can be safely said in its administration.

But women rule more than education, they control most of our institutions. The result is that, there will be a society that is unfair to both boys and men. Face it, the truth is any society which is capitalistic and democratic will eventually find women rising to a position of dominant political and economic power. They already have in the U.S. and have been in that position for years before women, even knew it. Why? Because women control the money and, power follows money.

Studies I have read that women control up to 80% of the money in the U.S. Men might make more money but, it is the women who spend it. Business and politicians will cater to those who have the wallet. As one of the Rothschild’s said, "I don't care a twit who controls the politics, as long as I control the money." And since women have the money and thus the power, the design of every institution is eventually going to reflect the feminine perspective.

This is especially true of the educational system. In my experience as a teacher, I can tell you, women think they have a direct line to God's wisdom when it comes to raising children. Rules, guidelines, policies and procedures all reflect the female perspective.

Fact is, women often are enabling and overindulgent. This inevitably leads to a society of disrespectful and irresponsible adults. Follow the logic. As a kid I get away with misbehavior on a regular basis even when caught. Doesn't it follow that when I grow up I can do the same thing? And guess what, it’s getting more the case, you can!

Men, by and large, are much better at laying down rules, outlining specific consequences for their violation, and administering the appropriate consequences. The problem is we can't. Women, who run things, will be on our ass like white on rice.

I get so tired of the old refrain, "they're just children" or "think of the children!" or, "the children are our future." While all this is true, I would like to know, when do we not treat them as children? And, I AM thinking of the children and your enabling behavior is ruining them. Lastly, yeah the children might be our future but, I am a great believer in taking better care of the present.

Yes, women rule in nearly every arena. I feel sorry for the boys and young men in our society. Of course, they'll adapt as much as they can, short of becoming an actual women. But, it is inevitable in our democratic/economic system. Just as inevitable is that eventually, a masculine based system will rise to power. Tragically, this is often revolutionary while the ascendancy of a feminine society is more evolutionary.

Hold on to your hats, this change is going to happen, the seeds of which can be seen now. High ranking members of Islam, a strongly male dominated religion which insists on strong integration of church and state, assert that one day Islam will rule the world. I don't know if they won't. But if it is not them, some other masculine system will attain supremacy. Then the cycle will start all over again. I wish we could settle on some kind of peaceful compromise but, it's not going to happen.

Well here we are guys, in a society designed by women and run by women. So why are we still getting the blame whenever anything goes wrong?