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Has School Become Too Hostile to Boys?

tastybasslines

tastybasslines

Inactive
May 9, 2010
2,216
1,384
Los Angeles, CA
#1
I found this article very interesting.

http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/19/school-has-become-too-hostile-to-boys/

When I was a kid, I got suspended for bringing a knife to school, and fighting. All common place stuff...we shot BB guns after school. No one ever went postal.

The attempt to "re-engineer" a boys imagination seems ridiculous, but is this what we have really come to?

Examples from the article:

1. Tug of War is now referred to as "Tug of Peace" - seriously?

2. A 7 year old boy suspended for throwing an imaginary hand grenade...wow.

Etc...Can't be a hero, play cops and robbers, wild west or anything else I did as a kid these days. Meanwhile the statistics from the article show a lack reasoning behind these actions.

I imagine with media so present in kids lives from a very young age, that kids learn what are the correct social norms faster and that accounts for the very low incidence of violent incidents, which are sure to include regular fights, which is a part of growing up for some.

Fighting is one thing or bringing weapons to school these days..I get that. But telling a boy he can't be a boy has to be confusing and probably makes it worse than "zero tolerance" policies like these make it better.
 
#2
Before the inevitable flood of responses come in as a response to that article, lamenting how PCness has ruined society, I do want to point out that, while yes, the examples cited are pretty absurd examples of PCness gone too far, at the end of the day, they are cherry-picked examples of extreme incidents and are not necessary indicative of the average school policy...which is ironic, because then the author goes on to actually cite statistics for another point.
 
#3
LiquidMidnight said:
Before the inevitable flood of responses come in as a response to that article, lamenting how PCness has ruined society, I do want to point out that, while yes, the examples cited are pretty absurd examples of PCness gone too far, at the end of the day, they are cherry-picked examples of extreme incidents and are not necessary indicative of the average school policy...which is ironic, because then the author goes on to actually cite statistics for another point. But I've always been critical of journalists attempting to report science and research. I actually believe journalism programs should require an extra physical science lab, a statistics class, and one social science methods course so perhaps journalist can actually maybe get a little bit of an understanding of the stuff they're trying to report. But I digress. ;) [/soapbox]
Click to expand...

#notimeforthat #outrage #indecency #zerotolerance #PC

@Ziltoid
 
#14
LiquidMidnight said:
Before the inevitable flood of responses come in as a response to that article, lamenting how PCness has ruined society, I do want to point out that, while yes, the examples cited are pretty absurd examples of PCness gone too far, at the end of the day, they are cherry-picked examples of extreme incidents and are not necessary indicative of the average school policy...which is ironic, because then the author goes on to actually cite statistics for another point. But I've always been critical of journalists attempting to report science and research. I actually believe journalism programs should require an extra physical science lab, a statistics class, and one social science methods course so perhaps journalist can actually maybe get a little bit of an understanding of the stuff they're trying to report. But I digress. ;) [/soapbox]
Click to expand...

JOURNALISM AND SCIENCE IS A TOUGH ONE - ON THE ONE HAND, IT'S GOOD TO RAISE PEOPLE'S AWARENESS. ON THE OTHER, IT'S ALL TOO EASY FOR JOURNALISTS TO OVERSIMPLIFY COMPLEX ISSUES WHICH THEN GET MISUNDERSTOOD.

IN TERMS OF THE ARTICLE - BAH, I DON'T KNOW. THE EXAMPLES ARE DEFINITELY AT THE EXTREME END OF THE SCALE. LET KIDS BE KIDS, BT THEN AGAIN IT'S GOOD TO GIVE BOYS AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF THE WORLD.
 
#16
Well this trend of oversensitive parents isn't anything new. Some of my younger cousins, around 8, aren't allowed to climb trees (while being supervised) because it's "not safe".

I get it, the world is a dangerous, disgusting place, and kids should be protected from it, but that seems ridiculous. Next thing you know, feminists are going to keep kids from playing house.
 

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