Reader D.D. comments on our ongoing coverage of the discovery by teachers and therapists that–guess what? Boys and girls are different, and that our schools’ current classroom strategies favor quiet girls over energetic boys, leading to a socially deleterious high dropout rate for boys (click here, here, here, and here). D.D. takes offense at National Review correspondent Kate O’Beirne’s contention that the invasion of the classroom by radical feminism has been a turnoff for boys, who learn that they’re wimps instead of potential heroes:
“To say that radical feminism hurts boys is beyond the pale. It’s just baloney! On a scale of 1 to 10…10 being things that significantly impact the lives of boys, radical feminism doesn’t even merit ranking.
“What does impact boys and girls are the behaviors and practices of moms and dads. Generally speaking, children raised by parents who engage in the best parenting behaviors and practices become responsible, caring, competent citizens. Similarly, children raised by abusive and/or neglectful parents or parents who just have poor parenting skills become emotionally crippled and sometimes dangerous citizens. Scavenging for minutiae that target liberalism and radical feminism detracts from the real problems children face.”
I agree, D.D., that good parenting has much to do with the raising of good children–but even the best parents must send their boys to an institution that may regard the tykes’ natural energy and competitiveness as pathologies to be drugged out of sight and give them books to read that glorify girls and depict boys as pathetic wimps. This can turn even the best-intentioned kid with the best-intentioned parents off school. And what about boys who don’t have fathers at home or who otherwise grow up in less than perfect households? For them, a single-sex school with plenty of male role models and mentors can make a huge difference. So unfortunately the “liberalism and radical feminism” that regard sex differences as products of people’s imaginations are a genuine part of the “real problems” that many youngsters face.