This article is fascinating on so many levels.

What do y'all think?

-- Anonymous, August 22, 2001

Answers

Just looking at some of the statistics in the first half of the article-- boys have more D's and F's, more drug and alcohol violations, more high school dropouts and ADHD diagnoses-- I'd say that sounds like par for the course.

We all know the phrase, "boys will be boys," and, at least in my experience, that double-standard was always held up. It was expected that my brother would get in trouble every now and then, would probably stay out past curfew, would experiment with alcohol and pot at some point. It was expected that he would do poorly in school, because he had been diagnosed ADHD.

It was expected that I would abide by curfew [which was an hour earlier than his] and would be well-behaved, quiet, and studious. When my mother suggested that I had ADD [I had the same exact problems with school and discipline as my brother], the doctor sniffed, "Girls don't develop ADD. She's just lazy." [Mind you, that was a looong time ago].

More than a few of my female friends say that they grew up with a similar set of standards. We expect boys to be tough, to get in fights or cause trouble somehow, to play hookey and be wild. They're just, after all *being boys*. If kids are raised with such a glaring double-standard, why are the results surprising? How can the article say, "That's not what America expects from its boys," when that's *all* America seems to expect from its boys?

-- Anonymous, August 22, 2001

My mom once shocked the hell out of me, after I graduated from college. She told me she and my dad had been surprised that my brother (3 years younger than I) had done so well in school - that they had expected him to be the "athletic one" and me to be the "studious one".

I about fell over. This is after years of BOTH of us playing all sorts of sports and making good grades. Coming from my mom, it was pretty unbelievable.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

OK so girls get higher grades. But we get paid more, so it evens out in that respect!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Blah blah blah.

That's what I think of the article. Not that it doesn't raise good points -- of course it does. But I think the whole point of the article is to maximize the shock value, and I have no patience for stories like that.

I tend to agree with quote from the AU professor ... "Isn't it ironic that it's only been in the last two decades that we've really considered making schools equitable for girls. And now people are already saying, 'Whoa, too much time on girls. Let's get back to boys.' "

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001