The work A War Against Boys? starts with the story of Doug Anglin who tried to sue his school for the sex discrimination. Boy’s father agreed that educational system sets against traditional male behavior, but steamroll his idea that boys’ grades should be raised retroactively. Most attempts to defend male students’ position look like political games against feminism. Statistics show boys are more likely to have lower grades, repeat a year, drop the high school or be diagnosed with ADHD. There is similar situation in colleges, but author called “feminized” forecasts improbable and compared them with earlier worries that there would be only color students on campuses. The war against boys is a complex problem with political, social and psychological issues. Schools “feminize” boys by suppressing their traditional active behavior, and colleges continue it. Males have only few opportunities to spend time in friendly environment, like the membership in Boy Scouts. School reforms create false opposition between girls and boys. There is a problem with inaccurate presentation of statistics. More representatives of both genders started to go to colleges often; and there is still an imbalance across class and race. But experts often review society generally and suggest general solutions, like return of corporal punishment. They do not take into account that boys often need same things as girls, like “to be loved, get sex and not be hurt” (n. p. 4). Males also often prefer actions with direct rules and answers. That is the reason why boys often choose math instead of English. Many males refuse to take part in such subjects because they think it is some kind of “women work”. It is necessary to review the terms of masculinity and attitude to “hardwired” behavior to stop the “war”.
Works Cited
A War Against Boys? JPG Files.
