As a man educated in America's co-ed public school system, I find the mention of boys being a detriment and threat to girls' learning opportunities a sexist and demeaning condemnation which--turned around--would cause uproar from many female "separatists". Condemning boys as natural trouble makers does nothing to address the underlying issue: why are we not raising our boys to be intellectually curious and sophisticated, stressing how important it is to contribute to society by learning to better oneself and others through education? Instead, a boy is sanctioned to be a nerd (socially rejected by women for being one) a jock (praised and idolized by women for off-twhe-books achievements) or eternal frat-boy (our two-term President!). Men are severely limited in the roles they can fill, due to what one must act like to be masculine in this country. Men are money/success objects just as much as women are sex objects. If a man is not financially successful and aggressive, he is less sexy. So why must we get rid of our boys during the school years? I can argue (though I believe it mistaken) that girls hold back boys in school because girls do not conform with a male's way of learning, thus polluting the education system. Sound fair?
Feminism must go both ways. It is not about expanding women's horizons and accusing men of being "pollutants" who should be segregated. Equal rights means equal responsibilities, and we must change the definitions of masculine success and emotional range and realize the ways men and women feed each other's perpetuation of stereotypes.
