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As long as males don't start getting all whiny about being victims of a system, can't get ahead but it's not my fault, need the gov't to come in and help us attain our goals, etc., etc. then maybe they'll man up and get their act together.
You mean like Affirmative Action? Obviously women and minorities are not able to "man up and get their act together" without government assistance.
I'm male and I do not know what you are talking about? When I was studying flint knapping in our cave school (it has been a while) lots of guys dropped out before graduation. Most to support their families (the little head developed faster than the big head) or just because they thought they had learned enough to get enough work to buy a car and some beer. Some of us graduated from High School, went to war, came back and graduated from College and worked for the next forty years or so.
The big advantage men had in those days was lack of competition from women. Many girls thought that getting a man and keeping him by having a child or five was a good a career plan as possible. They also dropped out of school as pregnant high school girls were strictly forbidden. Some of these women got the right guys and are now grandmothers. Others did not do as well.
The daughters and granddaughters are less certain the finding a right guy is all that likely and they had better plan on earning their own money so they would never be dependent on anyone let alone a fickle unreliable man. They have done very well because they concentrated and competed. Some of them keep a man around as a kind of large fun pet. Some even have managed to have kids.
The War Against Boys This we think we know: American schools favor boys and grind down girls. The truth is the very opposite. By virtually every measure, girls are thriving in school; it is boys who are the second sex.
Janelle is right. Normal men gravitate towards places and activities where they can earn respect, chiefly from other men. There isn't much of that in academia anymore, or the corporate world, apart from the top jobs achieved by "alphas".
The high-achieving alphas are doing fine and, for the most part, they are not complaining. They have their reward. But the majority of men who will never be high earners have always worked for other reasons: duty, respect, honor, comaraderie. And there are vanishingly few places where men find those rewards today. Absent those rewards, men do as little as they can to get by.
Well, then those "men" can just go ahead and be whiners who do their best to mooch off of people like me for public assistance. If all these manly macho men suddenly can't compete in the job market once we let women out of the kitchen, then I guess they deserve to be losers.
But the majority of men who will never be high earners have always worked for other reasons: duty, respect, honor, comaraderie. And there are vanishingly few places where men find those rewards today. Absent those rewards, men do as little as they can to get by.
That's is? Where's the man's desire to provide for their family? Where's the man's desire to contribute to the world every day by getting up and going to do a job? There's no honor to be found because you earn low pay? No camaraderie among low income workers? So only high earners have any sense of achievement and all the low earners are just a bunch of slackers.
Wow. An eye into your world? Care to tell us why duty, honor, et al have vanished - among low-income workers - according to your little theory?
Many older men that once made a very good living working in a skilled trade (some that took many years to master), have that the industry they worked in has become obsolete or out sourced and are now between a rock and a hard place.
The War Against Boys This we think we know: American schools favor boys and grind down girls. The truth is the very opposite. By virtually every measure, girls are thriving in school; it is boys who are the second sex.
I do think that girls do better at listening passively and regurgitating information. Guys are much stronger (arguably stronger than girls) at coming up with their own ideas and aggressively competing in science and in business. So, I think it balances out for the smarter ones. It is at the dumber end of the scale where men really go in the tank. They are impulsive and prone to following bad ideas. "Dude, I know exactly where he parks it every night, and we'll be in and out of there before anyone sees a thing!" Girls are more likely to just go to work.
I wonder how much all of this is due to competition. We have many more women in the workforce, and on average, they are more reliable. Maybe the recession just brought all this to light.
I read "How the Schools Shortchange Boys" and disagree with the author's last comment. He asserts that teaching survival is not what schools are about. I contend that that is exactly what school is about. Teaching survival in an increasingly abstract world dominated by rules driven bureaucrats is the point. Self respect, adventure, curiosity, accomplishments are purposely discouraged because they can get you fired or not even hired. The cube farm demands the appearance of compliance and the cube farm is the destination of most boys and girls that don’t flip burgers or pick apples.
When I was in school I was faced with reading “classical” literature that I could have cared less about. So I read the first chapter, a middle chapter and the last chapter. That gave me 80% of what the book was about for less than 20% of the tedium. It allowed me to answer most of the questions and write really bad essays. Only one English teacher ever figured out what I was doing and she encouraged me to keep doing it. She told me time was too precious to waste on tedium. I was fond of Kipling and Bierce. They saw and wrote very clearly.
I was more interested in math, science and shop. These courses actually took 100% studying but were at least interesting. I am a professional scientist as a result. I have also built and raced sports cars. I despised most gym sports as I was small, skinny and very nearsighted. Why bother if there is now way in hell you could ever win stick and ball games because you cannot see the damn ball.
I would probably go a bit nuts in the current schools but I also think I could figure out what was actually happening and manipulate the situation (growing up with a mean drunk is a PhD course in manipulation) to my advantage. Like I did before I would be great friends with the girls. I appreciated them and they appreciated me. Still do.
Yes filling a young childs developmental brain with drugs is not a wise idea. That being said I got no problem with the wife toting the lunchpail. Does her good to go hit the 9-5 trail while I can go fishin or work on my tan.
Works for me too!!!
Great to be able to not have to worry about 'em using guys for their money.
Let them carry the load. And if/when the relationship ends, no continuing financial obligations for the guys.
Most of us guys who grew up in the '50's or 60's would cheer this on.
You go girl!!!
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