DesertFox
05-23-2008, 05:17 PM
John Leo
City Journal
The American Association of University Women has long downplayed the school problems of boys, arguing instead that the education establishment victimizes girls, in what it calls an “unacknowledged tragedy.” So it is unsurprising that the AAUW’s latest report, “Where the Girls Are,” argues against the “myth” that boys are falling behind girls in school. The Washington Post summarized the report’s findings in a page-one headline: NO CRISIS FOR BOYS IN SCHOOL, STUDY SAYS.
The AAUW has been down this road before. Its 1992 report, “How Schools Shortchange Girls,” was a powerful and effective—though mostly false—lobbying effort for “gender equity.” As education scholar Diane Ravitch commented, the report “ginned up a non-existent crisis” in girls’ education. The report contained almost no new research and was essentially a rehash of old and dubious studies assembled to support its thesis. Yet the mainstream press reported the story with enormous excitement and little skepticism. BIAS AGAINST GIRLS IS FOUND RIFE IN SCHOOL, WITH LASTING DAMAGE, trumpeted the front page of the New York Times, though neither the text of the highly politicized report nor the cherry-picked research behind it justified that characterization.
Then as now, relevant statistics showed boys in more academic trouble than girls.
More (http://www.city-journal.org/2008/eon0523jl.html)
City Journal
The American Association of University Women has long downplayed the school problems of boys, arguing instead that the education establishment victimizes girls, in what it calls an “unacknowledged tragedy.” So it is unsurprising that the AAUW’s latest report, “Where the Girls Are,” argues against the “myth” that boys are falling behind girls in school. The Washington Post summarized the report’s findings in a page-one headline: NO CRISIS FOR BOYS IN SCHOOL, STUDY SAYS.
The AAUW has been down this road before. Its 1992 report, “How Schools Shortchange Girls,” was a powerful and effective—though mostly false—lobbying effort for “gender equity.” As education scholar Diane Ravitch commented, the report “ginned up a non-existent crisis” in girls’ education. The report contained almost no new research and was essentially a rehash of old and dubious studies assembled to support its thesis. Yet the mainstream press reported the story with enormous excitement and little skepticism. BIAS AGAINST GIRLS IS FOUND RIFE IN SCHOOL, WITH LASTING DAMAGE, trumpeted the front page of the New York Times, though neither the text of the highly politicized report nor the cherry-picked research behind it justified that characterization.
Then as now, relevant statistics showed boys in more academic trouble than girls.
More (http://www.city-journal.org/2008/eon0523jl.html)