Donny’s mother lacked self- confidence and cared more about what other people thought about her as a parent. The conflict between mother and her son is ironic. Unfortunately, Cal, Donny’s tutor, failed to support and motivate Donny to do his homework. Cal represents an immature, Peter Pan like kid himself. Tyler even described them in the same manner: long hair, faded jeans, fans of rock music, careless, and young.
There are also a few reasons as to why boys don’t tend to do so well in education. One reason is the feminisation of education. Sewell argues that as primary schools are female dominated this puts boys off education as they see learning as being feminine. Another reason could be due to their poorer literacy skills. Parents tend to spend less time reading with their sons, and the mother is usually the reader which makes boys think that reading is feminine.
As you can see, the system needs to change because its not helping some women at all, its hurting them. Furthermore, I believe that some children are better off with there fathers. When non-custodial fathers are highly involved with their children’s learning, the children are more likely to get A's at all grade levels (2007 National Center for Education Statistics). Some mothers are to busy doing meaningless things, and are not worried about the well being of there children. Highly involved fathers also contribute to increased mental dexterity in children, increased empathy, less stereotyped sex role beliefs and greater self- control (Abramovitch, H. 1997.
Unrealistically, the narrator believes that she would be of use to her father more and more as she got older. As she grows older she is separated from her gender and the opposite gender. The narrator’s community believes that the male gender is superior to the female gender. The narrator first experience with this was when the salesman stopped at their house one day and she was introduced by her father, the salesman unacquaintedly express’s, “I thought it was only a girl” (49). This goes to show that the salesman thinks that the female gender is not as great as the opposite gender, they are not valued the same as of what the male gender is.
Math is NOT a Waste of Time Susan Jacoby, a former columnist for the New York Times, raises awareness of scientific and mathematic depravity in the female community in her article “When Bright Girls Decide That Math is ‘a Waste of Time.’” Jacoby believes adolescent girls avoid advanced science and math courses because of stereotypes and “cultural expectations” that society places on women (282). Throughout the article, Jacoby tries to educate parents and women of the lost opportunities girls inflict on themselves so that parents and teachers can decrease the learning gap between boys and girls in the math and science fields. Jacoby believes that parents need to push their daughters to break the barriers and add more science and math classes to their school schedules so that they do not become as “intellectually handicap” as earlier generations. I agree that girls need to continue their education in the math and science fields and that society acts as an influential factor in what classes females take. However, I think the lack of females in advanced science and math classes has no definitive reason.
Some girls begin to lose their "voice" or "go underground" with their gifts and abilities as they absorb messages about what it means to be "feminine" in our culture. In response, girls tend to act in, which expresses itself in eating disorders, depression, teen pregnancy, and lowered academic achievement in core academic areas such as higher level math and science. On the other hand, adolescent boys, experiencing pressure to conform to "masculine" stereotypes, often "toughen up" and act aggressively in all facets of their lives. Boys receive messages that it is not all right to be nurturing and caring, to express their feelings. In response, boys tend to act out, which can express itself in disruptive or violent behavior.
The Fairy Tale In his essay, “The End of Courtship,” Leon R. Kass claims that “people on both the left and right have come to regard the breakup of marriage as a leading cause of neglect, indeed, of the psychic and moral maiming, of America’s children”(224). The high divorce rates in our society are staggering and recognizable; yet we can point out the problem but can’t seem to provide a solution. There are several “deal breakers” in a marriage with many being obvious and some not so obvious; however the relationship problems people face today are no different then what couples faced in the past when divorce was rare and vows of lifetime commitments and family values were worth fighting for. The question we must ask ourselves is
Since claiming their role in society as capable human beings, women have been treated unfairly in the society when they haven’t been directly excluded from various fields that are socially less “suitable” for a woman. As a young man who has grown up with significant female influence in my life and as a young musician who is in a rock band with two women, I know these stereotypical male views to be completely baseless. Even in infancy children are doused in the complex ideas of gender roles and what it means to belong to a certain gender. Before encountering the views of a patriarchal society a child will first encounter this sexism in the home, no matter how subtle. While boys are encouraged to be adventurous and granted freedom that is perhaps undeserved, their female counterparts will be given toy ovens and princess dolls to play with.
Absentee of fathers also affects their children's opportunity. Children in college whose parents gets a divorce can get impaired by fathers behavior and fear of sudden lack of interaction, tend to see decrease of grade, lowering over all average some children get so overwhelmed and settle for easier career. Another way absentee of fathers can affect the opportunity of a child are economically. As a child
Marie weren’t treated nice by her dad and her cousin, and she is described quite like a girl who’s living on her own. Under these conditions, she needs to draw some attention from children at the same age. An example: Very loud, Maria asked Rachel if she ever had done it (having sex). She asked just in order to get some feedback or attention from the group of boys surrounding them.