4 ms·
As a long-time teacher in multiple countries, I've also had this concern. I realize it's a fairly heretical belief to hold on this site but I think boys are sy
by xiaoma 13y ago
As a long-time teacher in multiple countries, I've also had this concern. I realize it's a fairly heretical belief to hold on this site but I think boys are systematically discriminated against in most western societies.
As a child that teachers (nearly all women) tended to be biased against boys and downright dismissive of male dominated interests such as science fiction, video games or arm-wrestling. Talking with students in recent years, I get the impression that my teachers were actually more tolerant of boys than most current K12 teachers are. Invariably boys get punished more severely for similar infractions, boys are more likely to be forced onto medication and more likely to receive "tough love" in the face of academic difficulties.
Compounding this is that even in this day and age when there's nearly a 3-2 ratio of females to males in college, it's the boys who get fewer grants, fewer sex-specific support organizations and less support in general. This chasm continues, even for mid-career adults. Many organizations provide women with free training in various fields, including tech (see Railsbridge, Women Who Code, etc) and allow men only as guests of women at all. In fact the amazingly good hacker school I went to charges men $2000 more than women.
Things probably still seem okay at this point due to the fact that the trends have gradually been getting more extreme and the educational imbalances weren't so bad 15-30 years ago, when much of the workforce was in formal schooling. But the swelling ranks of disenfranchised young men is a demographic that isn't going to be good news for anyone, including women.
- Camillo 13y ago> In fact the amazingly good hacker school I went to charges men $2000 more than women. Is that even legal?
- xiaoma 13y agoIt's de-facto legal at the very least. AFIK all the schools do that. Actually, it looks like mine just gives $1k off for women and certain minorities. There were several students I talked to who paid 2k less than me, but I'm not sure what the reason was. The tuition price doesn't appear to have been consistent in the beginning.