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Huan Yi
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since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688
Waukegan

0 posted 2006-01-25 12:20 PM


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 . . .


© Copyright 2006 John Pawlik - All Rights Reserved
Sunshine
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since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
1 posted 2006-01-25 06:28 AM


If you didn't bother to read it, then why did you place it here, John?  That makes no sense.
Marge Tindal
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since 1999-11-06
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Florida's Foreverly Shores
2 posted 2006-01-25 09:51 AM



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~


Sunshine
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since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
3 posted 2006-01-25 11:43 AM



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.


icebox
Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383
in the shadows
4 posted 2006-01-25 12:29 PM


A few years ago, Gloria Steinem said, "The revolution is over; now we have to decide what to do about the survivors."


Huan Yi
Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688
Waukegan
5 posted 2006-01-25 02:23 PM



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.


Brad
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since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705
Jejudo, South Korea
6 posted 2006-01-25 06:43 PM


quote:
It continues: "An increasing number of boys — now a startling 40 percent — are being raised without biological dads. Psychologists say that grandfathers and uncles can help, but emphasize that an adolescent boy without a father figure is like an explorer without a map.


Is this number accurate?


hush
Senior Member
since 2001-05-27
Posts 1653
Ohio, USA
7 posted 2006-01-26 12:34 PM


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.

Huan Yi
Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688
Waukegan
8 posted 2006-01-26 08:43 AM



"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!


hush
Senior Member
since 2001-05-27
Posts 1653
Ohio, USA
9 posted 2006-01-26 01:11 PM


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?
latearrival
Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499
Florida
10 posted 2006-01-27 03:50 PM


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

hush
Senior Member
since 2001-05-27
Posts 1653
Ohio, USA
11 posted 2006-01-30 01:44 AM


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.
Huan Yi
Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688
Waukegan
12 posted 2006-01-31 05:28 PM



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.


Midnitesun
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since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
13 posted 2006-01-31 11:13 PM


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.

Huan Yi
Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688
Waukegan
14 posted 2006-01-31 11:32 PM



K,

Your comments reflect the mantra of the
generation which now discovers it has a problem with boys.


Essorant
Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769
Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada
15 posted 2006-02-05 01:06 PM


I think midnitesun worded it most wisely.
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