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Mathematics : The Final Frontier In The Feminist War Against Boys.
 
Part One.
 By Philip Jones 26th July 2008.Last week, The Associated Press proudly reported that in the `largest` study of it's kind, whereMathematics is concerned, girls are now as `tough` as boys. This last bastion of male dominance ineducation has been breached. Janet Hyde, of the University of Wisconsin Madison, who led thestudy said, " Girls have now achieved gender parity on standardised Maths Tests".This relentless war on all fronts against the masculine has been raging for many decades now, notleast in our schools and universities. I find myself asking "What is the `Femi` Brigade's`Endgame?" Is it to grow a penis on a baby girl and thus perfect the androgynous being they seemintent on creating by all means at their disposal ?Before I digress and go off on one of my `rants`, let's examine this business with maths andeducation more closely. As some might know by now, I am British, so I will continue this article based on what is happening in my own sad country.In August, when the GCSE results come out, it is highly likely that, once again, girls will have beaten the boys at the examination game.For years now, girls have been taking the lion’s share of success in public examinations. Thisyear’s A and AS-level results were further evidence of the trend. Girls out-performed boys inalmost every subject. They took nearly 47,000 more subjects than boys at A-level, and nearly91,000 more at AS level. And in both exams, they achieved a higher proportion than boys of Agrades in almost every subject.Of course, it is good news that girls are doing so well. But it is worrying that boys seem to beslipping further and further behind. For this trend isn’t confined to the high-fliers passing exams.At the bottom of the system, the drop-out rate among boys is causing serious concern.The reason is nothing other than the wholesale feminisation of the education system. In GCSEs, A-levels and increasingly degree courses too, coursework accounts for an ever greater proportion of the final marks. This in itself favours girls.Boys tend to like ’sudden death’ exams. They like taking risks, pitting their wits against the odds.Girls don’t. They prefer to work steadily and conscientiously without gambling against memory,the clock and questions from hell. Which is why at degree level boys have until now achievedmore firsts and thirds than girls who tend to get safe, if dull, seconds. Nor is it surprising that girls are taking more exams than boys. For the curriculum has expanded inways that suit girls rather than boys, with a proliferation of discursive, ’soft’ subjects like generalstudies, sociology or drama.The evidence suggests that boys and girls learn in different ways. Research has found that girlsgain more satisfaction than boys from understanding the work they are doing. Boys are more ‘ego-related’, gaining more satisfaction from competing with each other. Nevertheless, education policy denies such differences and imposes instead an agenda of ‘equality’. For at least twenty years, feminist teachers have made a determined attempt to change aschool system they held to be hostile to girls. The assumption was that since boys tended to opt for 
 
science, maths and technology and girls for languages, humanities and domestic science, this proved discrimination against girls.It never occurred to them that this pattern had evolved because each sex naturally gravitatedtowards these subjects. The view was that boys and girls were identical, and these differencestherefore had to be corrected. The result was active discrimination against boys. As James Tooleycomments in his book, the Mis-education of Women, girls began to be privileged over boys atschool. Teachers gave priority to girls in classroom discussions, playground space and sportingfixtures.The ‘masculine content and orientation’ of textbooks, topics and tests was obliterated in favour of female references; teachers were forbidden to use ’sexist’ language; and male teachers’ bondingwith boys through jokes or shared allusions to football had to be reprogrammed out of the system.During the 1980s, moreover, one project followed another to get girls into studying maths, scienceand technology.But it wasn’t sexism that was keeping girls away from such subjects - it was their choice. For timeand again it has been shown that wherever they have the opportunity, boys gravitate naturally tomechanical sciences and girls to discursive or domestic subjects.Clearly, if any prejudice existed it would be right to address it. But this was not prejudice. It wasrather that boys and girls behaved in different ways. This was never an issue in single sex schools.But once co-educational schools became the norm, the differences became striking - and feminismassumed that to be different meant inferiority and discrimination.This was not only wrong in itself. It was also disastrous for boys. For rather than men beingmasters of the universe as feminists contend, their sense of what they are is fragile. Unless their  particular male characteristics are acknowledged and supported, they start sliding downhill andsome go off the rails altogether.In school, boys find girls intrinsically threatening, a fact generally masked at the top of the abilityrange but in often violent evidence at the bottom. Girls mature earlier than boys, so unless boys areexceptionally able they tend to be outclassed by girls. And if they don’t dominate, they tend to giveup or drop out.Because doing well in school involves no manual or physical activity but requires instead sittingquietly, reading and writing, the most vulnerable boys view learning as feminine and `uncool`. And being feminine is their deepest dread.This is because men’s sense of their masculinity is far more vulnerable than women’s sense of their femininity. Biology reminds girls what they are every month. Boys, by contrast, need to prove their identity and role, particularly among those with poor prospects and few confidence- boosting attributes.But rather than celebrating male characteristics, society tells boys at every turn that its values haveturned female, and that if boys want any place in it they must do so too.Thus, male characteristics are derided. Warfare is said to be obscene. Authority is oppressive.Chivalry is a joke. Competition creates losers - taboo in education, where everyone must be awinner. Stoicism is despised; instead, tears must flow and hearts be worn on sleeves at all times.Men, however, define masculinity by being different from women. So this unisex culture hasresulted in two things. More men are driven into stereotypical macho behaviour to prove their masculinity. And they simply withdraw from any sphere which becomes identified with women.
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