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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan 
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http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry200601240828.asp Somehow I apparently qualified for a free subscription of Newsweek and have received a few issues including the one referred to above. I didn’t bother to read it because it’s concerns, ( summarized in a few headline words), were no surprise . . . |
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| © Copyright 2006 John Pawlik - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
If you didn't bother to read it, then why did you place it here, John? That makes no sense. |
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Marge Tindal 
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
Even though you may not have read it, John ... I read it in it's entirety and as the mother of three family members in the teaching profession ... I will definitely be sharing it with them, and in turn they will no doubt share it with many others in their profession~ Their is some valid information in each of the articles that just might make a difference in the lives of our youths~ THANK YOU for placing it here~ |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
I read it as well, Marge, and agreed that there was a lot in there that made sense. We need to get the balance back in the system... where everyone receives equal treatment. |
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icebox Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383in the shadows |
A few years ago, Gloria Steinem said, "The revolution is over; now we have to decide what to do about the survivors." |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
I read the National Review article which reflected some of my own observations which made reading the Newsweek article to which it referred to needless beyond the headlines. As if they were “defective girls” is a pretty good summary of the attitude that has prevailed over the last few years; there shouldn’t be any wonder then at the results. Remember the story of how Odysseus found Achilles. |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
quote: Is this number accurate? |
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hush Senior Member
since 2001-05-27
Posts 1653Ohio, USA |
Brad- who cares? Sorry, that was flippant. But: "In the past, boys had many opportunities to learn from older men. They might have been paired with a tutor, apprenticed to a master or put to work in the family store. High schools offered boys a rich array of roles in which to exercise leadership skills—class officer, yearbook editor or a place on the debate team. These days, with the exception of sports, more girls than boys are involved in those activities." So, because there are less fathers around (apparently- that statistic doesn't cite is these "fatherless" children get to see biological dad on the weekends) tutors have suddenly disappeared? Boys have suddenly been barred from extracurricular activities? They can't go out the old fashioned way and apply for a job? (I find it hard to believe that in the past, every dad owned a family store, anyway). Lack of a constant or adequate father figure does not have to be the end of the world. Honestly... more of my friends have divorced parents or dead fathers than not. (Seriously... I can think of two with a married set of parents and five without). We all turned out fine... even the boys, by George! Do boys and girls operate differently? I'm sure... I'm no doctor or psychologist, but I'm sure there are differences. But is some of it due to socialization? I'm sure of that, too. There's no point blaming biology or society alone. |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
"There's no point blaming biology or society alone." Which leaves . . .? I get the impression then that boys have just become regardlessly lazy. "Boys have suddenly been barred from extracurricular activities? They can't go out the old fashioned way and apply for a job? (I find it hard to believe that in the past, every dad owned a family store, anyway). Lack of a constant or adequate father figure does not have to be the end of the world." Yah kid, toughen up! |
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hush Senior Member
since 2001-05-27
Posts 1653Ohio, USA |
Which leaves the combination of the two. Like the part in the story that talked about how when they give girls testosterone, they prefer to play with trucks and not dolls. So, the testosterone led them to more male traits... but how did they learn that trucks are for men? Or do you think trucks really are inherently more for men? As a female, I for one love to drive and loathe the fact that my high insurance premiums and lack of funds lead me to purchase a little Olds Alero instead of the Monte Carlo SS I'd have liked... or even the V-8 Thunderbird I might have patched up had I had the money to actually do so. Additionally, before I sucked it up and went to college, I was considering a career as a truck driver. Do I have testosterone on the brain? Am I too feminist? Is there something strange about these desires? |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
Hush, no there is nothing wrong with your desire to drive trucks. A lot of women I know who are very feminine on the total scale have chosen jeeps or high vans. They also like to have control of their vehicle and like a regular shift. One woman I know had a position as a professor in college and gave it up for the freedom of traveling the road in a truck. She drove for a long distance company and loved it. I can't say how long she did it as I moved and did not know her well. It might have been just for a while for a change of pace. best to you. martyjo |
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hush Senior Member
since 2001-05-27
Posts 1653Ohio, USA |
Oh, don't get me wrong- I know there's nothing "wrong" with liking to drive, or being loud, or belching if I feel like it, or jumping into political and religious discussions, or any of those other things I do that are typically identified as masculine traits. But why are they masculine, is my point? I'll concede that biologically, men as women have differences, but our biology was in place long before little boys and girls ahd to decide whether or not o play with trucks... so how is that experiement a valid indicator of testosterone causing more "male" traits? Does our brain somehow absorb, through society, acceptable behaviors for men and women, catalogue them, and then pull them out according to the hormonal balance in the brain? It's just interesting to me. |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
Take the fastest man you can find and the fastest woman, race them, who wins? The biological determined activity and roles in the physical realities of the past. It's only now when jobs are done while sitting that things become comfortably blurred. |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
It's sad that anyone feels that educational institutions must focus on gender when it comes to learning. No one in their right mind would dispute that boys and girls are different. But ANY child without a caring nurturer/role model in their life, be they male or female, is left without an important element for survival as a social being. After having worked several years with grades K-12, I know that both boys and girls require physical outlets to burn off excess energy, build muscles and brains, learn problem solving techniques, and ways to discover how their bodies function. But we cannot be dividing them all the time by sex. Neither can we ignore the differences. It isn't all about sex, it's about offering equal opportunities to learn and grow. Historically, girls were often denied access and/or encouragement to pursue 'male' dominated fields of learning, and thereby, 'male' professions. Thank goodness that mindset has changed. (I hope) Now, let's not go backwards, and pigeonhole both boys or girls. We don't need classrooms that focus on sexual differences. We need classrooms that provide all students EQUALLY, irregardless of sex or any other 'differences' with the basic tools of learning. |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
K, Your comments reflect the mantra of the generation which now discovers it has a problem with boys. |
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Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
I think midnitesun worded it most wisely. |
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