Socialization and Education of Males

The answer to the question about college testing is both simple and complex.

The complex:

The cramming of the pre-college curriculum with everything BUT physical outlets for the energies of boys has done them no favors, not the least from which they have fewer times allotted for it in a typical day. The combination of escapist, disengaged, electronic entertainment with the near-entire replacement of unorganized sports with organized sports, has socially retarded many of them and atrophied both their attention and critical thinking skills and their desires to achieve in the “outside world.” Their innate masculinity has been too much emasculated from them at nearly every opportunity, and even intimated that they are inherently deviant, violent, or criminal, by an educational system and adult social network now dominated by overly feminized elements. Their physical environment has been full of endocrine disruptors, and the males in their lives have been too often absent or consumed with work and other activities that swallow vital mentoring time. At exactly the period that they need to know boundaries from a strong male figure and strong male clan or social group, this is too often missing (male teacher-role models, for instance, are increasingly rare), or, what is sometimes worse, they are merely “befriended” by the male figure(s) instead of getting the mentoring they crave and need. They thus perceive either no boundaries or artificial ones, both of which are volatile to teenage boys. Excessive female influence (and/or attempts at control) at home, school, and society in general at this critical time too often either produces listless docility or anti-social behavior, and this is only reinforced by media and electronic programming that projects few academic male figures that boys can relate or aspire to. The boys don’t feel really listened to, nor understood when they are, and in any case, endless lectures and admonishments cause them to develop deaf ears of “understanding,” to instead play the game of delivering what the parent/teacher/”authority” figure wants to hear without consideration of what is meaningful. This is reinforced intensely by the endless second, third, and fourth chances that the overly feminized educational and social system give them, and so they know they will be “rescued” from whatever they do. “Consequences” and “follow-through” become near-meaningless. Instead of forming discipline in the forge of mistakes, the boys know they will be propelled along in a system that will 1) shove them in directions they have little desire for or influence over, and 2) process them successfully regardless of results of efforts, and sometimes even with little or no effort required. Parents that intercede in the system on their boys’ behalf often only worsen the problem by removing responsibility and initiative from where it belongs—the boy who needs to begin the transition to a man. Organizing and providing everything for the boys stunt them as well, as does too often only complimenting them for false “achievements” like tenth place. Boys that are intelligent and adept at school subjects often hide it because the culture (and even their own social network) silently tells them they are either not really good enough or that boys shouldn’t be that way or even that you shouldn’t show up your buddies. Boys that bother to look into the future often do not see one all that exciting to them, whether by constricted or even stifling choices for the adult male, or even just the perceived narrow paths of “career.” For all these reasons and more, boys are functionally maturing later and later, and feminine-inspired attempts to either indulge this or correct this largely fail miserably.

And these things are in play even if the boys are fortunate to avoid being overprescribed/overmedicated by a system that sees malady in every teenage transition, not to mention the even worse travesties of drug and alcohol perpetual abuse, actual clinical depression, or criminal activities. And these are on top of the usual teenage boy risk factors of impregnating, STDs, wrong crowd, and other risky behaviors (not just cars), plus the usual stress factors of relationships and attempted relationships, hormonal changes, difficulty organizing thoughts, etc.

So yes, the issue is complex and the system is skewed in favor of girls, which is one of the reasons why the ratios in higher education are beginning to lopside. The system is creating the problem long before standardized tests come into play, however. Standardized testing is a symptom, and not even the most powerful one. The causes lay largely in what has been described above.

Community colleges are doing more to attempt to level the playing field than are other institutions of higher learning, largely because the issue has become more acute there. But it still isn’t all that much, in my opinion.

The simple:

While the above issues need addressing, the brass tacks of the matter is that boys need to not be force-channeled in a certain direction, but be actively engaged in the process of their own life formation, preferably by balanced male mentors. We have stove-pipe processed them in certain directions too much instead of engaging their energy and creativity to get them excited to be adult males who direct their own life paths.

As for standardized testing, if immediate college is the path they want, we don’t need any more alterations or allowances. Tell them that it is going to be harder for them than females, and let them get on with being motivated and energized to respond to the challenge, including the challenge of school itself. Just realize that, as many have found, the instigating and certainly the learning does not really commence until the student is ready. That could be years beyond the often false “standard” of 18-22.

Some other societies know a little better than ours to not force feed advanced education too much, which is why often mandatory service of some kind is present, as well as options only tangentially related to college. Aside from its communal benefits, this avenue may also be a better way for both society and individuals to use the talents and energies of much of this age group.

And one historical point to remember: this nation achieved among men its highest functional literacy in the 50s and early 60s. While we can’t just replicate, and there were certainly many problems, maybe we should go back and pick the best things from then that worked so well, hmmm?