10 months ago, the NYT posted an interesting article: A Link Between Fidgety Boys and a Sputtering Economy. Surprisingly bold and honest for a major newspaper.
We all know rich kids have a head start compared to their less-advantaged peers. Better vocabulary, attentions span, tempers, and sensitivity. On a Pre-K skills exam, rich kids score 53% compared to poor kids at 40%. A staggering 13-point difference.
For decades, the US government has been trying to correct this imbalance by dumping money into a whole host of programs aimed at poorer neighborhoods and demographics. Preschool, after school, summer camps, you name it. No one seems to care if it is effective or not. Doesn't matter. We gotta do something. For the children!
Turns out there's an even bigger factor at play: Gender. On these same exams, regardless of income demographic, girls frequently score 58% compared to boys at 42%. A 16-point difference.
Anyone think we'll start seeing tax funded programs exclusively for young boys? Of course not. Even when we're talking about 4- and 5-year-olds, the population at large (both men and women) care less about boys. Even at that young age, boys are disposable.
What is responsible for this disparity? The NYT comes startlingly close to the truth:
The number of single-parent families has surged over the last generation, and the effect seems to be larger on boys in those families than girls. Girls who grow up with only one parent — typically a mother — fare almost as well on average as girls with two parents. Boys don’t.
Read between the lines. You kick dad out of the boy's life and the boy suffers. Pretty bold statement for a major newspaper! But this is TRP, so let me state it even more plainly and without any ambiguity: Single mothers don't know how to raise young men. Some exceptions, definitely, but overwhelmingly, single mothers fail miserably.
So what if Pre-K boys are behind? We all know they catch up, right? That's why we still need Title IX. Not to mention all those new programs pushing young girls into math and science.
Nope. By 5th grade the gap is even wider. Gender is a far more significant factor than income or race:
By [5th grade], the average girl is at the 60th percentile of an index of social and behavioral skills, while the average boy is at only the 40th percentile [...] That gap of 20 percentage points is larger than the 14-point gap between poor and not poor children or the 15-point gap between white and black children.
The gap continues through high school and even college.
Educators and social scientists are stumped. Feminist education reforms aren't working for boys. Impossible. What is the cure? I know! How about more Feminism?
“Boys are getting the wrong message about what you need to do to be successful,” Ms. Buchmann says. “Traditional gender roles are misguiding boys. In today’s economy, being tough and being strong are not what leads to success.”
Yeah, somehow I don't think that's going to help.
TRP is not MRA. We are not activists. We aren't trying to change the world. We just want to improve ourselves. I've said these very words to many a new subscriber, explaining why we aren't out lobbying for alimony reform or equal protection for male sexual abuse victims. TRP doesn't believe we can change the environment; we are focused on finding ways to succeed within it. I don't care about a grown man who lets himself be a victim. (I'll give him a hand up, but I'm not going to fight for him.)
However, when it comes to children, I do care. I am a father. I am willing to be an activist. I will fight. But it appears to me that no one is looking out for these boys. We can't tell a 5-year-old boy to go lift and improve his career. You don't tell him to learn the game, toughen up, and be stoic.
There are no major advocacy groups for boys. The National Parents Organization (formerly Fathers & Families) lobbies for "shared parenting" of divorced couples. AKA, Dads' Rights. I don't know how effective they are. (Seems a little nebulous.) Regardless, their efforts may help future kids, but what is being done for those boys already in the system?
Where are the Boys' Rights groups? Does anyone know of any? I couldn't find a single one. I'll donate. I'll volunteer. I'll even help organize. Is there anything out there?
[–]GASTON_TONNERRECOQ 52 points52 points52 points [recovered] | Copy Link
[–]Senior Contributorcocaine_face139 points140 points141 points (14 children) | Copy Link
[–]NoRegretj22 points23 points24 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Senior ContributorRedPope[S] 62 points63 points64 points (4 children) | Copy Link
[–]Senior Contributorcocaine_face30 points31 points32 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Moldy_Gecko6 points7 points8 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]LaV-Man4 points5 points6 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]denmaur1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Endorsed ContributorAFPJ10 points11 points12 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]RubikTetris2 points3 points4 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Senior Contributorcocaine_face2 points3 points4 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]buster22095 points6 points7 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[+]1Dark-Ulfberht-12 points-11 points-10 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Senior Contributorcocaine_face19 points20 points21 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]1Halfjor31 points32 points33 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]clutch_guy4 points5 points6 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Endorsed ContributorLastRevision52 points53 points54 points (13 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 16 points16 points16 points | Copy Link
[–]disposable_pants6 points7 points8 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Endorsed ContributorLastRevision0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]1nzgs1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]arnieschwarz-2 points-1 points0 points (7 children) | Copy Link
[–]CrimsonDeep17 points18 points19 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Limekill9 points10 points11 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] -4 points-3 points-2 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]TurgidMeatWand4 points5 points6 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 4 points5 points6 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Dr_HoaxArthurWilmoth13 points14 points15 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[–]i2amahandmodel5 points6 points7 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] -3 points-2 points-1 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Dr_HoaxArthurWilmoth6 points7 points8 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]someguysomewhere32112 points13 points14 points (5 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 5 points6 points7 points (4 children) | Copy Link
[–]Senior ContributorRedPope[S] 1 point2 points3 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]Senior ContributorRedPope[S] 0 points1 point2 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Senior Contributor: "The Court Jester"GayLubeOil18 points19 points20 points (6 children) | Copy Link
[–]NoRegretj6 points7 points8 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[–]Senior Contributor: "The Court Jester"GayLubeOil6 points7 points8 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]ColdEiric4 points5 points6 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Stinkfished6 points7 points8 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Redpillc0re7 points8 points9 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]HoboSomeRye4 points5 points6 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]ihaphleas6 points7 points8 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 3 points3 points3 points | Copy Link
[–]ihaphleas1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]justmanthings-3 points-2 points-1 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]2 Senior Endorsed Contributorvengefully_yours27 points28 points29 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 4 points5 points6 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]RealRational0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 22 points23 points24 points (5 children) | Copy Link
[–]1nzgs11 points12 points13 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]Endorsed ContributorAFPJ2 points3 points4 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Senior ContributorRedPope[S] 2 points3 points4 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]BlaiseDB12 points13 points14 points (5 children) | Copy Link
[–]trp_angry_dwarf4 points5 points6 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]BlaiseDB0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]420POWER0 points1 point2 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]BlaiseDB0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 5 points6 points7 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]Areimanes0 points1 point2 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]WayofTheOlympian1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]GarandTheftAvto1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]1kick61 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]RubikTetris1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Mildly_Sociopathic1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] -1 points-1 points-1 points | Copy Link
[–]Kunichi0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] -28 points-28 points-28 points | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 18 points19 points20 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[+][deleted] -12 points-11 points-10 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]theHangedGod6 points7 points8 points (10 children) | Copy Link
[–]Day_man20200 points1 point2 points (6 children) | Copy Link
[–]theHangedGod4 points5 points6 points (5 children) | Copy Link
[–]Day_man2020-1 points0 points1 point (4 children) | Copy Link
[–]theHangedGod1 point2 points3 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[–]Day_man2020-1 points0 points1 point (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]theHangedGod1 point2 points3 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Day_man20200 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] -5 points-4 points-3 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]theHangedGod5 points6 points7 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] -4 points-3 points-2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]SpaceCrunch11 points12 points13 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[+][deleted] -15 points-14 points-13 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link