Aotearoa / New Zealand

There is another problem that I don't think gets enough attention when talking about educational achievement. The article mentions the rise in misogyny in these disaffected boys, but it doesn't take that to the logical conclusion.

People of lower education and already feeling dejected and isolated are ripe for radicalization; if we continue down this path of failing boys, we will end up in a place where gangs will gain followers easily and as a society we will wring out collective hands and ask "how do we fix this?".

Highly educated people can be radicalized; but it is much much more difficult to do.

We need boys to feel that education is worth their time, that it has value and that they themselves can see a path to being educated. Maybe it is boys schools and girls schools, that specifically cater to their need at the primary level. Maybe it is different classes in the same schools. Maybe it is another thing entirely, but it has to be something, because if we continue too fail boys the gangs will pick up the disaffected and dejected boys and give them a sense of community and respect. The more boys that we fail the more power the gangs get.

I once saw a post by a "feminist" basically saying that it was good that girls were out performing boys at all levels of education. That girls "deserved" to have the upper hand after centuries of being the under class. But this misses a significant point; like it or not men are physically stronger, more aggressive and if they "have no future" will steal, batter, kill, rape and destroy communities. Large groups of uneducated boys and men are a danger to society at large....we pretty much no longer have convenient wars to thin that particular demographic out.

We need to ensure that boys by and large do well in education, it is not a competition between boys and girls especially at primary school. The upper end of high school and definitely at university there is competition, but by then the students already value education.