Sounds just like an old-fashioned Boy Scout manual... ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> http://www.nypost.com/seven/05312007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/snips__snails_opedcolumnists_christina_hoff_sommers.htm > > SNIPS & SNAILS > > By CHRISTINA HOFF SOMMERS > > May 31, 2007 -- PARENTS and educat ors are wringing their hands over > the poor academic performance of boys. Girls are better readers, earn > higher grades and are far more likely to go to college. America does a > much better job educating girls than boys. But now, out of nowhere, > comes a book that may hold the secret to male learning. > > "The Dangerous Book for Boys," written by two English brothers, Conn and > Hal Iggulden, violates all the rules of political correctness - and > males between the ages of 8 and 80 are reading it in droves. > > Already a major best seller in Great Britain, the book is now topping > the lists in America. Its appeal is obvious - it goes directly for the > pleasure centers of the male brain. > > "The Dangerous Book for Boys" is all about Swiss Army knives, compasses, > tying knots and starting fires with a magnifying glass. It includes > adventure stories with male heroes, vivid descriptions of battles and a > history of artillery. Readers learn how to make their own magnets, > periscopes and bows and arrows. It gives rules and tactics for poker and > marbles - and secret moves for coin tricks. > > In a radical departure from modern schoolroom readings, the book has > almost nothing to say about feelings, relationships or how boys can > learn to cry. It valorizes risk, adventure and manliness. > > Today's boys inhabit a danger-averse world where even old favorites like > tag and dodge ball are under a cloud - Too competitive! Someone > might get hurt! The National Parent Teacher Association recommends a > cooperative alternative to the fiercely competitive "tug of war" called > "tug of peace." > > By contrast, "The Dangerous Book for Boys" has detailed instructions on > how to hunt, kill, skin and cook a rabbit. > > Yet the book doesn't encourage boys to be Neanderthals. It tells them > they have to become gentlemen. To this end, it offers lessons in > manners, grammar and "seven poems every boy should know." It features an > astute essay on that most mysterious of subjects, girls, and how to > respect them, make friends with them and not to offend them. > > Today's teachers have been trained to regard boys and girls as > cognitively and emotionally interchangeable. Common sense persuades most > of us they are not, and now a rapidly growing body of neuroscientific > evidence supports this conventional view. > > There are many exceptions, but here are the rules: Girls tend to have > better verbal skills and enjoy a clear cognitive advantage in > understanding people and human relationships. Boys, on average, have > better spatial reasoning skills and tend to be keenly interested in > systems and in mastering the rules that make things work. > > Educators studiously ignore all of this while they strive to avoid > "gender bias." But even after being educated in today's gender-neutral > schools, the career preferences of boys and girls continue to be > markedly distinct. It is not social pressure that leads so many girls to > become social workers, teachers and psychologists, and vast numbers of > boys to be mechanics, carpenters or electrical engineers; it is their > different innate propensities. > > The sad lesson of this book's success is how far our current education > culture has drifted from the world of boys. The special art of teaching > boys - once so well understood by educators everywhere - is at risk of > being lost forever. > > One literacy expert reviewed several junior-high social studies texts > and concluded: "Many students may well end up thinking that the West was > settled chiefly by females, most often accompanied by their parents." > > In her alarming book, "The Language Police," education historian Diane > Ravitch describes how "sensitivity and bias committees" in our leading > publishing houses now routinely expunge from textbooks and standardized > tests all mention of potentially upsetting topics. Two major publishing > companies specifically interdict references to frightening animals such > as rats, mice, roaches and snakes. > > "The Dangerous Book for Boys" will send bias and sensitivity committees > into turmoil - but its very success may eventually put them out of > business. > > Will girls like the book too? Some will. But it is boys who are the coin > collectors, adventure buffs, card tricksters and systematizers of the > species. I showed the book to a 22-year-old man I know. He leafed > through it and exclaimed: "I would have loved this as a kid!" He was > mesmerized by instructions for how to make the "greatest paper airplane > in the world." I suspect such lore will not light up the neural > circuitry of females. > > Unless, of course, they are mothers who happen to notice that their sons > have fallen in love with this wonderful, wholesome, delightfully > instructive anachronism of a book. > > Christina Hoff Sommers, a resident scholar at the American > Enterprise Institute, is the author of "The War Against Boys" and > "Who Stole Feminism?" > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boysed/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boysed/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
