Affirmative action..for Men.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
I don't see why you are so quick to blame the system here in this case. I say it is the boy's own fault if they aren't learning here. So it's the schools fault if these boys can't sit down through class, do their homework, study? What these boys who are failing to perform need here is discipline, so they can catch up with the boys and girls who can do well academically.

It's kind of hard to blame little kids. They whipped my a$$ and it didn't help a bit. You do have to teach some kids differently.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
I don't mean students shouldn't be able to ask questions, in fact every HS teacher and professor I have come across encourages students to participate in class.

I've had the same experience with high school teachers and college professors (as I mentioned in my last post). However, prior to high school, the asking of questions was considered to be disruptive, and got me (and others, usually males) in a great deal of trouble and/or earned me the animosity of the teacher. This severely pissed me off at the time, and spurred me on to committing bigger and better acts of disruption. When high school rolled around I was able to switch gears without too much difficulty -- my acts of pure disruption went back under the table, while my acts of disruption-***-initiative were just as strong as they'd ever been. Others weren't so fortunate -- some had repressed their "disruptive" urges to the extent that they had trouble bringing them back to the surface in high school, while others had gotten so used to their (legitimately) disruptive lifestyle that they had difficulty switching gears. Both of these latter problems tend (in my experience) to affect males far more than females, for the very reasons cited in this thread -- males are less prone to sitting still and quietly twiddling their thumbs, and so they are more likely to be labelled (often falsely) as having disciplinary problems early in their educations.

IMO, if early education were more focused on, well, education, and less focused on discipline, then the disparity would be lessened if not eliminated.

[Jaguar]

If men can't keep up, its their own goddamn fault. They'll then be losers whose wives earn more than them.

I'm gonna make sure that doesn't happen to me.

[Dinner]

I wouldn't mind being a house husband. I could sit at home, watch the kids, and watch Oprah.

[loinburger]

Oh, the pain! At least watch Jerry Springer, man...

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Finally, Americans realizing the flaws of their current educational system

Cause you would love it so if American males got military type training .

You must be blind not to notice that .

Most Americans seem to acknowledge that somethings not working, but they dont seem to want to go deeper than that

[Dinner]

Originally posted by loinburger
Oh, the pain! At least watch Jerry Springer, man...

Alrighty, Jerry it is though maybe a bit of Montel Williams as well.

[Sarxis]

Women outclassing men 60/40 academically? Fine by me! I'll stay home and watch the kids while the wife bungles in the business jungle.

(p.s. I have no kids and am in process of divorce)

[HershOstropoler]

I don't see a big gender gap here (teach at a law faculty). But there are some subtle differences.

Women have overtaken men in numbers, at least when it comes to class attendence. When I was a student, it was about 50-50. Now it's about 60-40.

On average women seem to learn better, probably put more effort into learning. In one class I offered a test case for practice - got a female/male participation ratio of 17:3 (!). I asked my male colleagues what on earth they are thinking - that they will marry rich?

Another odd thing is the disparity within the groups. Among the absolutely best, there's a clear male majority. Among the absolutly worst, there's an even bigger male majority. (that observation is supported by some studies, but I'm sure there are others to dispute it)

I don't see any particular structural advantage for women though. Seems men are really just more lazy.

[Ben Kenobi]

Others weren't so fortunate -- some had repressed their "disruptive" urges to the extent that they had trouble bringing them back to the surface in high school,

Well, I must say that I do not do as well in the university system as I did in High school. What I liked, and what tends to work for me is having a structured day, five days a week for most of the year.

[Az]

One thing has to be said: Affirmative action is not the solution.

Improve learning for boys. There are ways to do this, as you've all pointed out.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Frankly, I'm all for handing society as a whole over to women. And the sooner, the better.

[Az]

[TCO]

Originally posted by HershOstropoler
I don't see a big gender gap here (teach at a law faculty). But there are some subtle differences.

Women have overtaken men in numbers, at least when it comes to class attendence. When I was a student, it was about 50-50. Now it's about 60-40.

On average women seem to learn better, probably put more effort into learning. In one class I offered a test case for practice - got a female/male participation ratio of 17:3 (!). I asked my male colleagues what on earth they are thinking - that they will marry rich?

Another odd thing is the disparity within the groups. Among the absolutely best, there's a clear male majority. Among the absolutly worst, there's an even bigger male majority. (that observation is supported by some studies, but I'm sure there are others to dispute it)

I don't see any particular structural advantage for women though. Seems men are really just more lazy.

Lots of people see this more extreme bell curve for males. I'm not sure how much is disposition and how much is intelligence. Some IQ studies show males with a higher standard deviation of IQ (but about the same mode). I've also noticed the female as more willing to take "coaching" type instruction.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Jaguar Warrior
If men can't keep up, its their own goddamn fault. They'll then be losers whose wives earn more than them.

I'm gonna make sure that doesn't happen to me.

I heartily agree (no sarcasm), and offer these corollaries: "If women can't keep up, it's their own goddamn fault." "If blacks can't keep up, it's their own goddamn fault." etc.