tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18105492.post1879124453997318342..comments2023-03-17T07:18:49.868-04:00Comments on Issues & Views - The Blog: Are all-boys schools a radical idea?Elizabeth Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957503056880341197noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18105492.post-3185121189371480032011-02-12T03:16:58.663-05:002011-02-12T03:16:58.663-05:00This is a tough one. Our culture of youth leaves ...This is a tough one. Our culture of youth leaves gangs of same-age boys to their own devices. They run wild, in the absence of authority. Without the presence of mature, responsible men how can they learn self-restraint? They quickly learn to buffalo female teachers, or drift into adversarial delinquency, rather than join in constructive endeavors with men whose leadership they respect. Inter-generational learning has transmitted our civilization. Consider apprenticeship, from about 1100 to about 1860 AD. <br /><br /> Grand parents especially passed on knowledge of social history and norms to teenage boys in centuries past. Now they are relegated to an annual visit, often in another city. Boys are alienated from their own families by modern generational segregation & FORCED to mold their behavior to their peer group. Teenage peers are naturally heedless & undisciplined, when left to their own devices. That is genetic. <br /><br />Extended families are intact elsewhere. They offer more guidance for entering society. I don't think our culture can recover old ways in which adolescents were transformed into responsible men. Proposals I've read of don't strike me as adequate, or even feasible. I see nothing which can replace learning within an extended family.<br /><br /> Perhaps the Israeli Kibutz produces citizens as well as soldiers. If so, I have not heard its successes touted. That would mean even LESS male family connection, & more obedience to the state.Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11960243344927411869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18105492.post-80642673070170538202011-02-11T18:24:02.697-05:002011-02-11T18:24:02.697-05:00This seems exactly right, and is particularly the ...This seems exactly right, and is particularly the case with more boisterous and aggressive, boyish boys, like my son. Among the races, many black boys in particular benefit from a male-oriented schooling, with lots of exercise, team sports, channeling and discipline, and schoolmasters who are strong male role models.<br /><br />Here in London the authorities like to bring in black reformed ex-gangsters to talk to 'at risk' black youth about the perils of gang life. I'm highly sceptical of this, it seems to me the inevitable message of the 'successful' and charismatic ex-gangster is to glamourise criminality. I would think that a better approach (as well as team sports etc) would be eg a school emphasis on carpentry & metalwork, and other skilled manual crafts; taught of course by men. There are some excellent Jamaican craftsmen who arrive as immigrants here, but these skills are rarely if ever passed on to the next generation. I believe that can change.Simon in Londonnoreply@blogger.com