The Choice Channel

Boys have trailed girls in most indices of academic performance for at least two decades. In recent years, boys’ educational struggles have finally been acknowledged and explored in the mainstream media. This has resulted in an unfortunate backlash from misguided women’s advocates. The latest example of these advocates’ efforts to minimize or deny the boy crisis in education is the American Association of University Women’s highly-publicized new report “Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in Education.”

The AAUW says its report “debunks the myth of a ‘boys crisis’ in education,” but the study provides little evidence to support this contention. According to the Report’s own data, girls get much better grades than boys, are far more likely to graduate college, and are on the good side of a longstanding “literacy gap.”

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“Hardly anyone disputes the contention that the modern public school is seriously flawed. Test scores continue to be poor while metal detectors are found in the more violent schools. Welfare-state liberals argue that schools in poor areas need more money to place them on an equal footing with their richer counterparts. Conservatives usually reply that the solution is a voucher system that would break the government monopoly on education by restoring choice and control to parents. But virtually all participants on both sides of the debate concede the nobility of the original reformers; in their view, the ‘good intentions’ of such school champions as Horace Mann and John Dewey led to ‘unintended consequences.’” (07/98)

“A federal judge accused the Detroit Public Schools of disrespecting the courts Wednesday after school officials flouted an order and failed to show up or send a lawyer to a hearing on the firing of two math teachers who protested school closure plans. ‘There are some very disturbing things about the record that’s been filed that I wanted to take up with the school board,’ said U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy, who is hearing a lawsuit brought against the board by teachers Stephen Conn and Heather Miller.” (11/06.08)

“Tuesday’s historic election of Barack Obama was, to most onlookers, a watershed event — a political game-changer, a passing of the generational torch and a defining moment in American race relations. To the students in Gil Stange’s second-period AP Economics class at Towson High School, it was a chance to test a theory: What if the Republican candidate had been the African American and the Democrat the 72-year-old white guy?” (11/05/08)

“Defining ‘classroom incivility’ may begin with which side of the lectern you sit (or stand) on. Professors commonly complain about students texting or e-mailing away on their laptops or phones or, worse, catching up on their zzzz’s. To hear David Horowitz and others tell it, however, students are on the receiving end of more than their share of bullying or dismissive behavior, particularly if they disagree with the (usually liberal) views of their professors.” (11/06/08)

“Most attention was fixed on the presidential and congressional elections on Nov. 4, but issues closer to home also figured large in Tuesday’s voting. Fifteen higher education ballot measures were at stake, as the Democrats’ congressional majority grew and Sen. Barack Obama swept to victory pledging college-tuition reform. Many states’ propositions would bring much-needed funds to higher education during the country’s economic downturn, and most passed with comfortable majorities. Other ballot initiatives had major social implications.” (11/06/08)

“In a victory for freedom of expression, Temple College President Glenda O. Barron has quickly reversed the censorship of a religiously themed cartoon and the Nietzsche quotation ‘God is dead.’ After Mark Smith, Interim Vice President of Educational Services and Chief Academic Officer, forced English Professor Kerry Laird’s postings to be removed from his office door, Laird turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.” (11/06/08)

“Both universities and elementary schools are going after bottled water, as if that were the greatest threat facing students today! At the grade and high school levels, officials are removing bottled water from vending machines and cafeterias, leading students toward drinks with calories. Of course these are fine in moderation, but why deny a healthy option like water? Students supposedly would drink from water fountains, which as I point out on enjoybottledwater.org are not always sanitary or appetizing. A school in Madison, Connecticut is learning the hard way.” (11/19/08)

“While the nation is on the subject of socialism, we really ought to talk about public schooling. With the possible exception of the military, it’s the best example of a socialist institution one could ever find. It’s not a coincidence that public schooling is one of Fidel Castro’s favorite government programs. Actually, ‘public schooling’ is a misnomer. It would be more accurate to call it ‘government schooling’ because it’s a government operation from start to finish. That’s different from, say, public movie theaters or public restaurants. Those are private businesses that are open to the public.” (11/05/08)

“Congratulations on your impressive victory last evening. For the past two years, you have spoken to the nation about the need for hope, the need to dream, and the need to do things differently. Your message of change is not only one that should take hold of government itself, but it is also one that should serve as the cornerstone of your education policy. You now have a mandate for real change, with the Congress and the national will to support it.” (11/05/08)

“There are two types of gophers: prairie dogs and Department of Education couriers. One carries disease and the other carries a scam. The scam consists of what is being carried as well as who is carrying it. The ‘what’ are loads of tests that tell nothing about the quality of teaching and learning but which the Department of Education nonetheless and with exquisite anal retentiveness manufactures and manipulates as propaganda tools to be used for its own aggrandizement by way of defaming teachers.” (11/05/08)

“A think tank’s low assessment of Louisiana efforts to boost high school graduation rates ought to give school leaders and public officials some pause for concern at all levels. The Education Trust did not single out Louisiana for what it suggests are its meager efforts to improve high school graduation rates, although our state ranked 39th in setting the bar high.” (11/06/08)