Commentary on Thomas Barlett’s The Puzzle of the Boys

Presented to: Professor Darryl Ross

Bridge course for Men, Carleton University

Written by: Harold Sotomayor

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

great challenges of the coming decades.”(3)

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

around matrix structures.“(4)

Perhaps the puzzle of the boys is that there’s no puzzle after all. Society is constantly evolving and

changes are to be felt by everyone, how one’s perceive and adapt to those changes, integrating them

into one’s Sociological Imagination is a different matter.

Harold Sotomayor, February 4, 2010

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

boys falling behind academically

Michael Gurian's The
Wonder of Boys, school is not conducive to the way boys learn

boys are vulnerable and desperate for emotional connection.

William Pollack's Real Boys boys tend to communicate through action

boys are being taught they have to be tough and cool

William Pollack's Packaging Boyhood starts early with toddlers

recognize and accept the high activity level of boys

Boyhood studies
given them safe boy places to express it
Raising Cain, by Dan Kindlon
hostile profile with Lego/Nerf

boys, not girls, who are being shortchanged

Christina Hoff Sommers's
The War Against Boys but no need to be rescued from their masculinity

Discovery Channel's Man vs. Wild

Packaging Boyhood by Lyn Mikel Brown pumping up of the volume

Boyhoods: Rethinking Masculinities, by Ken Corbett

The Puzzle of Boys

poor performance in school is also tied to race and class

academic disparity between boys and girls exaggerated

AAUW miscasts boys as victims

evidence indicates a crisis for boys

Disney princess phenomenon

Girlhood studies
Packaging Girlhood by Lyn Mikel Brown sexy clothes being marketed to pre-adolescent girls

girls brains difference isn't supported by the evidence

The Trouble With Boys, by Peg Tyre

boys in their early teens can be sentimental

Niobe Way a portrait of emotionally intelligent boys