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Sept./Oct. 2005
Issue No.
4
Executive Director's
Column
In this quarterly issue we will be focusing on the
topic of boys' academic decline. Boys in this state and across
the country are falling behind and falling apart. This
phenomenon is not new ...
Glenn
Cummings
For this
newsletter we invited Glenn Cummings, House Marjority Leader,
Maine House of Representatives to share his thoughts on what
makes a man successful ...
One Guy's
Story
In our
family, the running gag is that, to different extents, we are
all nerds. Jonny may have a good serve on the tennis court,
but he still got an in A in Philosophy. And Peter may have
been the captain of the high school baseball team (0-14), but
he follows his name with the letters Phi Beta Kappa
...
The Weaker Sex ... What's Still
Wrong with the Guys?
By all measures males are in serious trouble in higher
education. A decade after we reported our first analysis of
the dismal participation and performance of males in college
the situation has deteriorated further ...
Gender Equity
Resources
As time
goes on, more and more individuals, organizations and
institutions are recognizing that boys have specific gender
needs. We have identified a few resources here
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A Word from the Executive
Director
My fifteen year
old son, Micah, asked me rhetorically last spring "why are
girls so smart?" He was referring to his experience in
honors biology where the majority of his classmates were girls
(9:2) and always "on top" of the material. He added that
"girls use words in their everyday discourse he would have to
look up in the dictionary."
This observation
of Micah's came on the heels of a conversation I had with my
older son, Noah, age 18 and now in his first year of college.
We were engaged in the ever-present conversation about not
doing homework or making less than meager efforts to do well
in his classes. Noah explained, "Only girls do that." It left
me wondering, when did we stop giving boys the message that it
is cool to be smart? How is it unmanly to try hard in school,
go in for extra help, hand-in meticulously crafted homework
assignments? Micah thinks I am living in the Stone Age when I
ask these questions out loud.
In this
quarterly issue we will be focusing in on the topic of boys'
academic decline. Boys in this state and across the country
are falling behind and falling apart. This phenomenon is not
new. In fact, our indifference to boys' achievement in school
has a long documented history. For example, in 1970, 2462 boys
received bachelor's degrees in Maine. That same year, 1656
girls graduated with a four-year degree (see chart below). In
2003, 2465 boys were awarded bachelor's degrees in Maine as
were 3673 girls.
This is not just
happening in our country, it is occurring across the globe.
According to the February 2005 issue of Post Secondary
Opportunity, Peru, Switzerland and Indonesia are the only
countries where boys out pace girls in graduation rates.
This dramatic
increase in girls' success is something to celebrate and
continue to support. But why have boys not had the same
results?
Our ability as a
culture to focus on the unique gender needs of girls in and
out of the classroom has had spectacular results. (That is not
to say that there is not more work to do. Women still earn .76
for every dollar earned by men.) It is time for us to do the
same for boys. Parents, educators, policy makers and caring
community members must invest time and resources into
understanding the unique needs of boys.
The ultimate
success of boys depends on their education. Boys' educational
achievement not only predicts their own personal success and
health, it also directly influences the lives of those around
them- their partners, children and the communities in which
they live.
If you are
interested in learning more about this issue, please refer to
the Gender
Equity Resources below.
Layne Gregory,
LCSW
Executive Director
Boys to
Men
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Raising
Boys to Men: Monthly Televsion Program
Community Television Network, Channel
4.
Program Schedule:
Tuesday, October 25, 7:00 to 8:00pm: Single
Parenting Boys
Tuesday, November 29, 7:00 to 8:00pm:
Mentoring and the Need for Significant Adults in Boys'
Lives
Tuesday, December 27, 7:00 to 8:00pm: The Legal
Rights of Teens
Tuesday, January 31, 7 to 8pm: Being a Boy
in a Family Facing Divorce and Separation
Tuesday, February
28, 7 to 8pm: The Role of Athletics in the Lives of
Boys
Tuesday, March 28, 7 to 8pm: Increasing Boys' College
Aspirations
Check out the Boys
to Men website for more information.
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A Guy's Story - Nerdz II
Men
By Peter Ian Asen and Jonathan Asen
In our family, the
running gag is that, to different extents, we are all nerds.
Jonny may have a good serve on the tennis court, but he still
got an in A in Philosophy. And Peter may have been the captain
of the high school baseball team (0-14), but he follows his
name with the letters Phi Beta Kappa.
The reason we are
nerds is because we are males with academic achievement. Were
we young women, we would not have had to endure years of
ridicule: "nerd," "geek," and even, inexplicably, "fag." In
elementary school, both of us fell victim to that torture
which Maine youth call the "whitewash" - where the victim's
head is mercilessly pushed into the snow.
One of us is a
recent college graduate, and the other about to start college.
What we know about those four years is refreshing for us, but
troubling for others: in college, the expectations fully
reverse themselves. Today, achieving academically in college
as a male is as likely to win you kudos and sexual interest as
being captain of the football team.
And it is also in
college that our female colleagues start to feel other
pressures, such as the acquisition of the famous M.R.S.
degree. Yes, Hillary Clinton may be running for president, but
at best, our girlfriends still get the message that they must
put their childbearing before their career, if they can even
have one at all.
It is clear that
these societal expectations have an impact on the achievement
of young men, and slightly older women. We celebrate the full
immersion of our sisters into the workforce, including white,
blue, and pink collar work. But we fear a future inhabited by
working women who juggle jobs and motherhood and deadbeat men,
who juggle alcohol and misogynist resentment.
In high school, it
was that tennis serve that allowed Jonny to be twice elected
president of the student government. Athletics are still the
principal measure of success for men under 18. But we know
that scary truth: unless you are the best of the best, a quick
serve isn't going to stop you from ending up on a street
corner. We hate to tell you, boys, but the gap between nerds
and men is smaller than you think.
Peter Ian
Asen (peter@americanlynching.com) is
the grassroots initiative director for the in-progress
documentary American Lynching. Jonathan "Jonny" Asen
(jasen@maine.rr.com), a devoted
underachiever, is the co-director of the documentary Surviving
the Split: Children of Divorce (2005). They are both natives
of Portland.
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The Weaker
Sex...What's Still Wrong with the
Guys?
By all measures males
are in serious trouble in higher education. A decade after we
reported our first analysis of the dismal participation and
performance of males in college the situation has deteriorated
further. The rate of decline has slowed somewhat compared to
females but not relative to labor markets. At the margin of
choice the guys still just don't seem to get it.
The success of male
lives depends on their education. So too does their
educational success influence the lives those with whom they
live--their parents, wives and girl friends, children, friends
and colleagues at work. And because males make up roughly half
the nation's population, unfulfilled male educational
potential diminishes national economic, social, political,
mental and spiritual health.
Of course the other
side to this story is the extraordinary educational success
achieved by women. While males have been floundering in
education women have made educational gains unparalleled in
our nation's history. These educational gains have carried
over into the labor market with careers launched based on
education. Our purpose in this analysis is not to focus on
what women have accomplished but rather on what men have not
accomplished. Young men need our help--the women are doing
very nicely without our help.
In this report we
summarize data from many sources that describe the flow of
males compared to females through the education pipeline. We
begin at conception and examine the education pipeline at
obvious measurement points through college graduation. (To
continue reading, click
here to open a PDF of the full report.)
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Gender
Equity Resources
As time goes on, more and more individuals, organizations
and institutions are recognizing that boys have specific
gender needs. We have identified a few resources here for
those who might be interested in obtaining additional
information on the topic, as well as locate other Maine-based
organizations that are focusing in on this area.
The
Gender Project
The University of
Maine Cooperative Extension Gender Project is a statewide
initiative to explore gender socialization and equity issues
and help young people get beyond the often unhelpful messages
they receive about what it means to be male and female today
and grow up to be whole people.
Boys'
Talk
The Boys Gender and Schooling
website has been developed in response to school and community
concerns about boys' education. It rejects the 'gender wars'
approach adopted by some commentators in favour of a
commitment to gender equity and improved outcomes for all
students, male and female.
Maine's
Task Force on Gender Equity in
Education
The charge of the Task Force is to:
- Summarize recent studies and gather data on the
discrepancy between male and female achievement in Maine
students, as manifested in: pre K-12 performance measures;
student expressions of aspirations; post-secondary plans,
education, training; career choices/readiness; college
application/acceptance rates; and post-secondary performance
measures, in order to,
- identify societal norms and specific factors (e.g.,
gender, socio-economic status, level of parental education,
geography, instructional practices) associated with the
discrepancy, in order to,
- develop proposals for action to guide both State and
local educational policy and program development designed to
ensure gender equity for Maine students, and to,
- suggest additional areas of study that may contribute to
an understanding and effective response to the gender equity
issues identified, and to,
- identify indicators to monitor progress on promoting
gender equity.
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An Interview with Glenn
Cummings
For this newsletter, we invited
Glenn Cummings, House Majority Leader, Maine House of
Representatives, to share his thoughts on what makes a man
successful, the challenges for young men, and how community
makes a difference. Here's what he has to say.
What was the best thing
about growing up as a boy?
There is a sense of
opportunity as a boy, a sense that the world holds tremendous
possibilities. The examples of great leaders tend to be male
(which is unfortunate), but it gives young men a feeling of
purpose and responsibility to the community.
What makes a successful
man?
The ability to take care of the community
and add value to the society in which he lives. This requires
skills of understanding, vision, commitment and sense of
purpose.
What are the challenges
young men face today as they transition into men?
Men are emotionally hindered by the limited definition of
masculinity. The "new" society demands flexibility, cultural
awareness, emotional intelligence, openness and comfort with
ambiguity. Traditionally, these are not strengths of men and
they must be learned to succeed in the emerging world.
How can adult men support
this transition?
Create environments in which men
are safe to fail and express self-doubt and explore
alternative thinking. Men meeting with other men in safe
places can encourage personal growth as a male.
What can the community do
to better support the healthy development of
boys?
Fight homophobia in all its forms.
Humiliation based in the perception of "feminine"
characteristics is used to bully boys into a narrow box of
manliness. It hurts our society by limiting male possibilities
and allowing anger, violence or despondency to be the
"standard" male persona.
Glenn Cummings is serving his third
term in the Maine House of Representatives and his first as
House Majority Leader.
Glenn also works as the director of
the new Entrepreneurial Center at Southern Maine Community
College and as an instructor in the business department.
A seventh generation Mainer, Glenn
lives in Portland with his wife Leslie Appelbaum, and their
two children Kiernan and Skyler.
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