Day 758 of 1000
There is an article by a self-described feminist, Christina Hoff Sommers, on how government schools serve boys (as opposed to girls) very poorly. This is a fairly hot topic amongst homeschoolers. I recently discussed this with Eric, a fellow homeschool parent with boys of school age. We probably have different ideas about how boys should be raised and encourged in their masculinity, but we agree whole-heartedly that it necessary to raise and educate them differently from girls. It is interesting that there is such a strong argument from a feminist worldview for allowing boys to be boys and avoid shoving girls toward career paths they might now want to follow. Typical of her answers is the following:
Q: They would see this as a result of gendered socialization: of boys and girls being pushed down different paths. I assume that you see it as indicative of different preferences?
A: Yes. Of course gender identity is both biological and cultural. But we have had three generations of feminism encouraging children to enter different fields. And very little has changed. If you look at college majors, boys are still engineers and girls go into the helping professions. Many children will defy the stereotypes of their sex, but the majority seems to embody them. I think that’s a reality.
Sommers talks about faulty research and claims about research that do neither withstand scrutiny nor support the idea that girls should be raised, educated, mentored, and encouraged in the same way as boys. I liked the article a lot. It confirms my belief that we were saved from a lot of things by homeschooling that we never even considered.
