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Commentary On Thomas Barlett's The Puzzle of
Commentary On Thomas Barlett's The Puzzle of
February 4, 2010
The riddle of the Puzzle of the Boys
Reading the Puzzle of the Boys, one can’t help but to feel the tension of opposite forces
pushing against each other, like anti-globalization protesters and police on a G20 meeting .
The subject Thomas Barlett chose to expose: Gender differences in early childhood development,
in particular growing up male in America, is probably limited only to continental USA however his
observations could be applicable to some extent to Canadian society since both economies and
cultural identities are intertwine and share a number of common historical and social trends.
There is a sense of polarities in Barlett’s article, those who favor the notion of boys being “neglected”
resulting in decreased academic achievements and poor social integration championed by Michael
Gurian’s book, The Wonder of Boys, he states in an interview: “I felt that society needed a book out
there that gave an over-arching almost global vision of what has happened to boys culturally.” (1)
At the opposite side of the debate the AAUW, American Association of University Women’s 2008
report - Where the Girls are: Facts about gender equity in education - concluded that “Understanding
disparities by race/ethnicity and family income level is critical to understanding girls’ and boys’
achievement.”(2) Barlett’s dividing line in his finding is clear. The “boys in trouble” camp, present a sort
urgent call to action in regards how culture is affecting boys upbringing into contemporary society
the other side presents a more pragmatic conclusion to the perceived problem with data support.
If one is to take side on that debate, I will probably endorse the latter not the former. But the issue
is not a simple one, rather than to see it as black and white, I think it is more like a multiple shades of
grey overlapping, forming a social continuum in which research must take into consideration a wide
range of social parameters to determine if boys are really having a rough time growing up in American
society, or if there’s indeed something wrong in the educational systems of industrialized countries.
such research is beyond the scope of this brief commentary on Barlett’s article.
The Economist, an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication, in their
January 2nd issue published an article entitled Female Power in which statistics shows that “Across the
rich world more women are working than ever before. Coping with this change will be one of the
I do understand the significance of such statement and the social implications are yet to be fully
comprehended by social institutions that still adhere to the traditional role of men as “bread
winners.” Naturally, most males may not feel too comfortable with numbers indicating unemployment
rates at the beginning of 2010, close to 11.2% for men and 8.6% for women in the USA .
There’s no doubt, biological and psychological differences between men and women do exist. The
Question to this writer is whether women in today’s society are equipped to play by men’s rules and
succeed without sacrificing their natural role as givers of life. Perhaps there’s much more for men to
learn and to adapt into the male perspective from women’s point of view. Niall FitzGerald, the chairman
of Reuters proclaims, “Women have different ways of achieving results, and leadership qualities that are
becoming more important as our organizations become less hierarchical and more loosely organized
changes are to be felt by everyone, how one’s perceive and adapt to those changes, integrating them
Endnotes
1) The Wonder of Boys, An interview with Michael Gurian. Copyright © 1996 by Bert H. Hoff
http://www.menweb.org/guriboys.htm
2) Where the girls are: The facts about gender equity in education. Copyright © 2008 by AAUW
http://www.aauw.org/research/whereGirlsAre.cfm
3) Briefing Women in the workforce. Female Power. The Economist January 2nd 2010. Copyright © 2010 by
The Economist. http://www.economist.com/
4) Womenomics. Feminist management theorists are writing with some dangerous arguments. The
nd
Economist January 2 2010. Copyright © 2010 by The Economist. http://www.economist.com/
Photography - http://elizabethmcclung.blogspot.com/2008/06/girly-boys-boys-who-have-gendered-girl.html
Other articles, links and relevant information related to this commentary can be found at my blog:
http://socialnista.posterous.com/
Appendix - Outline of opposite points of view, findings & Research on the article the puzzle of the boys