WELL WELCOME, NICKIE – AT 7:17 P.M. ET:  It's always encouraging when a journalist wakes up from a deep sleep.  Today we celebrate the semi-awakening of Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer-Prize-winning leftist columnist for The New York Times.  He is also a winner of Urgent Agenda's coveted Pompous Fool Award.  Now, with a bulb flashing over his head, Kristof writes:

In the United States and other Western countries alike, it is mostly boys who are faltering in school. The latest surveys show that American girls on average have roughly achieved parity with boys in math. Meanwhile, girls are well ahead of boys in verbal skills, and they just seem to try harder.

The National Honor Society says that 64 percent of its members — outstanding high school students — are girls. Some colleges give special help to male applicants — yes, that’s affirmative action for white males — to avoid skewed sex ratios.

A new report just issued by the Center on Education Policy, an independent research organization, confirms that boys have fallen behind in reading in every single state.

COMMENT:  I'm so moved, really so moved.  Nicholas Kristof, who receives honorary degrees for his brilliance, has finally discovered what parents of boys knew 15 years ago.

As a father of daughters, I'm delighted that girls are doing so well.  Viva!  But there have been problems with boys, and they are getting worse.   There may be many reasons, but Kristof himself alludes to one – the fact that written materials with appeal to boys just aren't that available in schools.  Indeed, under the influence of radical feminists and leftist "educators," books with male appeal are often not ordered, not put on library shelves, not used in class, and sometimes even removed.

Traditional male values like honor and bravery are also disparaged and ridiculed in many schools.  Again, the leftist influence that has risen since the 1960s, combined with the demands of some feminists (by no means all), has done its damage.

This is a national issue, and a growing national tragedy.  I'm glad to see that Kristof has finally written about it.  Now maybe he can get his trendy colleagues to do the same.  The feminist movement should be applauded for the emphasis it has placed on educating girls.  No issue there.  Now feminists should help to correct the problems afflicting boys.  They will find that their first allies will be mothers of sons.

March 28, 2010