The Dangerous Book for Boys

[Dashal]

A pretty alarming issue in the US is the fact that boys are falling behind in education to girls. Most think it's because teachers treat them both the same (like girls) and stiffle any competativeness or expression of thinking outside the box.

Clearly this follows with the pussification of so many boys in the country. This book is by British authors, and it's done very well in the UK. It's now in the US.


Dangerous book for boys

By CHRISTINA HOFF SOMMERS

May 31, 2007 -- PARENTS and educators are wringing their hands over the poor academic performance of boys. Girls are better readers, earn higher grades and are far more likely to go to college. America does a much better job educating girls than boys. But now, out of nowhere, comes a book that may hold the secret to male learning.

"The Dangerous Book for Boys," written by two English brothers, Conn and Hal Iggulden, violates all the rules of political correctness - and males between the ages of 8 and 80 are reading it in droves.

Already a major best seller in Great Britain, the book is now topping the lists in America. Its appeal is obvious - it goes directly for the pleasure centers of the male brain.

"The Dangerous Book for Boys" is all about Swiss Army knives, compasses, tying knots and starting fires with a magnifying glass. It includes adventure stories with male heroes, vivid descriptions of battles and a history of artillery. Readers learn how to make their own magnets, periscopes and bows and arrows. It gives rules and tactics for poker and marbles - and secret moves for coin tricks.

In a radical departure from modern schoolroom readings, the book has almost nothing to say about feelings, relationships or how boys can learn to cry. It valorizes risk, adventure and manliness.

Today's boys inhabit a danger-averse world where even old favorites like tag and dodge ball are under a cloud - Too competitive! Someone might get hurt! The National Parent Teacher Association recommends a cooperative alternative to the fiercely competitive "tug of war" called "tug of peace."

By contrast, "The Dangerous Book for Boys" has detailed instructions on how to hunt, kill, skin and cook a rabbit.

Yet the book doesn't encourage boys to be Neanderthals. It tells them they have to become gentlemen. To this end, it offers lessons in manners, grammar and "seven poems every boy should know." It features an astute essay on that most mysterious of subjects, girls, and how to respect them, make friends with them and not to offend them.

Today's teachers have been trained to regard boys and girls as cognitively and emotionally interchangeable. Common sense persuades most of us they are not, and now a rapidly growing body of neuroscientific evidence supports this conventional view.

[Mario Speedwagon]

.

[Zarniwoop]

That book looks awesome.

[Gudrid]

Unrelated to the book but,

I had a 4th grade teach who was wronged by a man; her husband who owned a movie theater divorced her and she got nothing as far as I can tell. Anyway she was the worst teacher to boys: one time off school grounds, 2 girls were teasing me so I flipped them off. The girls, both in my class, flipped me off in return and when they got to school they told our teacher--I had to sit in a time-out corner and not talk for half the day.

Another time, some other boys were being rowdy in the hall after recess on the way back to class, some girls told on them, I happened to be within 10ft of the rowdy boys walking back to class. Some other innocent boys and myself had to sit in time-out with the real culprits.

Later in high school when I was working as a teller at a fast food place the same teacher went through the drive-thru and gave me the money at the window. When I went to hand her back her change she had an angry look and said COUNT IT BACK. Hell hath no furies Like a woman scorned.

[MrGraham]

The author of this was on the Colbert report right when it came out, I want to say like 6 months ago? He had some pretty interesting ideas, but I think all the flaws he's pointing out with our child raising system aren't really sex specific.

We treat every child like a beautiful and unique snowflake, which causes major issues with their school discipline, their home life, and then when they have to become independent.

[Soriak]

Didn't the President of Harvard get fired for suggesting that very same thing? That men and women don't think the same?

[Mario Speedwagon]

Pretty much yeah.

I don't get why people are so uncomfortable with the idea that there are biological differences between the sexes and even the races of humans.

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by MrGraham

We treat every child like a beautiful and unique snowflake, which causes major issues with their school discipline, their home life, and then when they have to become independent.

I don't know about that. Is this the trend now days? Because back when I was in school they treated all of us like the same shit.

Personally I find "normal" society to be idiotic. I don't understand why so much of our world is structured around the perception of 9-5 being normal, and the perception that normal people wake up from the hours of 6-8am and should be in bed by 9-11pm.

The whole system just rewards automotonic behavior, why should the school system train kids to be different? If anything, teaching boys they're equal to girls prepares them for disappointment, or to allow them to rationalize failure when encountering the opposite sex.

I don't know if we should be teaching kids that they're equal to opposite sexes or even to each other. Everyone has natural talents that allow them to excel in certain areas. The whole equals bullshit is just to boost developing girls self-esteem. Telling girls that shit doesn't make them strong. I'd bet more strong women are produced by mothers teaching their little girls they can do anything and to not let dumb males fuck with her. As opposed to little molly fuckhead thinking she's the top dog of the playground and can headfuck all of the males.

Rawrarawr!

[brekk]

When the guy was on Colbert he made a lot of really good points which I fully agree with. I born in 85, and somehow just made it onto the side of let kids be kids, versus the transition to "OH MY POOR BABY!!!"

I honestly don't know how i was injured as little as I was, climbing trees, poking holes with white faced hornets, riding a big wheel down a very large hill, riding a fisher price scooter down the same hill, booby traps around a fort in my woods. (logs suspended in trees by ropes with trips lines, deep holes with broken glass at the bottom, etc.)

My little step-brother on the other hand, born in 1990, rarely goes outside, never goes in the woods, and is for lack of a better term a pussy to some degree. This is mostly due to his mother being heavily over protective and not letting him take risks, where as my mom figured I have to learn this shit sometime, better when I'm a kid.

[Dzul]

Dude kids these days are total pusses. You never see kids staff fighting with bamboo anymore or holding mixed martial arts tournaments in the sand pit at the park... gah the good ole days. The whole point of beeing a kid is to have fun get hurt heal then have more fun.

[Eomer]

Exactly. Over protecting your kids is the worst thing you can do. Even something as simple as allergies can actually be made much worse by keeping an infant in a completely sterile environment: their bodies just don't know what the hell to do when they grow up and encounter allergens. This applies both physio- and psycho-logically. I don't know that all kids are coddled that way these days, but it sure seems to be worse.

For example, I can't even imagine being a grade school teacher these days, because nothing is ever the child's fault. Your kid obviously isn't lazy, or an idiot, or a screw-up. The teacher is incompetent.

I'm just glad that when I was growing up, my parents had a very hands off approach with me. I still remember when I was 5 or 6 playing hockey, and complained after a game to my dad that someone on the team had called me an idiot. He basically called me a baby and told me to deal with it.

You never see kids staff fighting with bamboo anymore

Bamboo? Pussy. Me and a kid out at the lake made staffs out of soaked poplar wood, and fought with our dirt bike helmets on. Speaking of which, I can't imagine many parents these days giving their 4 year old a 50cc Honda and telling them to leave them alone for a few hours.

As far as the actual topic at hand goes, I don't personally see a huge problem with schooling as it is. Oh no, the boys' grades are lower, big deal. Grades mean fuck all in the grand scheme of things. Your grades don't score you on how well you'll get through life. Grade school is there for basic knowledge and to prepare you for possibly taking further schooling. I don't see why it's such a crisis that boys do a bit worse than girls. Thank god more women go to college, who would do the manual labor?

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by Dzul

Dude kids these days are total pusses. You never see kids staff fighting with bamboo anymore or holding mixed martial arts tournaments in the sand pit at the park... gah the good ole days. The whole point of beeing a kid is to have fun get hurt heal then have more fun.

lol...dude.

Friend and I found these toilet brushes in the garage....so what do two kids do with 4 foot long sticks and bristles on the end? fucking hit each other with it! W e grabbed pillows for shields and went to fucking town on each other. We had all these pin prick blood wounds all up and down our arms. My mom freaked out lol. Probably not a good idea to introduce toilet cleaning solution to your blood stream, but the fuck did we care! Toilet Knights Ho!

[Nehrak]

So that's what's wrong with you. (I keed.)

When I was a kid, I did fun things like punch my brother, nearly die from intestinal clogging (sorry to disappoint), and impale myself with a chain link. Still got the scar fifteen years later and it has barely faded.

[faithdies]

We did so much stupid shit as kids it wasn't even funny. We use to jump off the roof of my house just to do it. Kids suck now-a-days.

[Lejina Bloodbath]

I grew up in a small ass village 10 miles from the city where we'd actually go to school. With all the stops, the trip would take 45min. (45min in the morning, then 45min to take us home for lunch, another 45min back to school and a last trip home at the end of the day).

I was part of the last 6 guys to get off the bus at the end of the trip, and we'd always be so tired, bored and/or upset by then, we'd need that at least two of us do an old fashioned fist fight to rejoice the group.

I still have several 1/8" dotted scars on my forearms because one of those jackasses thought it would be a good idea to hide a nail spiked club behind a bush and use it on me a particular evening.

Worry not, I shot him down with a facefull of marbles coming from my slingshot before he even stepped off the bus the following day.

Fuck you Yan, fuck you.