Don’t All Boys Count?
Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog
Sorry folks, you’re in for one more day of AAUW-focused ranting. I know it may seem excessive, but here’s the thing: studies like the AAUW report will define this debate for the foreseeable future if we don’t do a good job of countering them. That means that every time we press for help for boys or action on the Boy Crisis, we’ll get this “study” thrown in our faces as a reason not to act. So it’s very important that we do what we can to show people that this is not a fair or unbiased report.
Probably the most insidious dimension of the dismissal of the Boy Crisis is the way that boys’ problems are casually shrugged off as due to socio-economic factors such as race and class. Now it would be foolish to deny that factors like race and class make a difference in scores, grades, college entrance, and so on. But the anti-boy forces seem to want to end the argument there. This is wrong for two reasons:
First, as we’ve shown time and again, the data doesn’t support the idea that this is purely a function of race and class–the gender gap persists across all of these divisions. In other words, white sons of college-educated parents still score signigicantly lower on literacy assessments than white daughters of college-educated parents. Mix up the race and educational and income levels and you’ll continue to see the same thing. And that’s just the academic problems. What about the emotional and health problems that leave boys under-treated for depression, show a significant disparity in boys being diagnosed with conduct or learning disorders, or boys’ higher suicide rate? The scores are only one part of the crisis.
Second, I have a problem with using “socio-economic factors” to try to shut down the debate. Even granting that race and income were important factors in boys performance, where does that translate to, “the boy crisis is a myth?” Where’s the concern for the underpriviliged and minority boys that are having problems? Do they not count as boys in crisis? Even if the boy crisis only affected low-income and minority boys (which is not at all the case), wouldn’t that still be an important and worrisome trend? I don’t really see the AAUW ever saying, “oh, there is a problem with girls education, but it only affects the poor and minorities, so it doesn’t really count.”
Anyway, just more things to keep in mind in our efforts to counter the propaganda. Thanks for your help and support (and patience).
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