Being a Man:

Paul Thorax talks about how he always disliked being a man. How the whole idea of being a

man in America is dumb. Society of the U.S. is practically forcing a man to not be himself and

be strong and masculine rather than be themselves and be free. Especially with emotions. Men

are expected to be suppressed. Young children are taught this and basically has become a

standard barrier separating women from men. Women are taught to be more feminine while men

are taught to be more mascluline. Men are expected to do sports and/or be gentlemen and learn

all these outdoor activities. All this has effects on men who want to be certain things. For

example, Paul Thorax himself feels pressured and insulted because he is a writer. He believes

that men's dreams are brought down because of the expectations society has on them. However,

journalism is the best form of writing for men apparently because it’s the most manly form of

writing. To add to this, when a man writes an article that reveals himself as an athlete, their

article starts to become more important. Because of all this and what young men are taught, they

believe less in the true meaning of feminism and become less insecure with themselves.

About Men:

Cowboys are one stereotype for men in America. The real emotions of a cowboy really have

been changed. When a cowboy is quiet and strong, he probably has no one to talk to. If he is

riding away from the sun on his horse, it probably means he has been riding all day on his horse.

People would think that a cowboy works alone with a very hard job but in reality, has a group to

work with. However, cowboys are seen as strong independent individuals. They work very hard

and have to go through tough conditions and have to suck up and take everything. But this isn’t

the real thing about cowboys. Cowboys are people who love doing their work. They have to be.
They have to go through major physical challenges and not even get paid that much for doing it.

This is the truth behind cowboys rather than the fake ideal one which is a total myth. One reason

why cowboys are quiet is because they don’t know how to bring their tenderness into the house

and also lack the vocabulary to express themselves and their feelings. In the end however, both

men and women are vulnerable no matter what. Just men tend to hide it but it can be seen with

the needs a man needs like someone to do certain things for them like cooking.

Putting Down the Gun:

Rebecca Walker talks about how kids are exposed to all these gender type roles in school. She

talks about how her son came home one day with an entirely different personality and then

suddenly asks if he should do a sport. His entire reason for this was because girls in his school

would only like jokes and talk about all these sports and stuff that happen in sports. It kind of

seemed that the only choices in school for boys were to be athletic in a physical sport or in a

virtual way like games. Rebeccas personally feels that if no action is really taken, then it could

get much worse and eventually get to the point where weapons are involved. Then questions

about the means of self-definition and personal power.

Why Johnny Won’t Read:

Mark Bauerlein and Sandra Stotsky both talk about how the overall average of reading for

children has gone down. Women have gone down by only percent for 1992 to 2002 but boys

went down by 12 percent. This predicts this is because of how boys are raised. They start to lose

their child-like personality and start to mature. Maturing for them is more hiding their

personality and suppressing themselves while women aren’t really taught this. There is also the
trend of boys wanting to read only war and adventure books rather than personal relationships

and fantasy ones. And because textbooks supposingly fulfil this want, but the problem with these

textbooks is that they are used as assignments and aren’t really the enjoyable type to sit down

and read. Also these schools aren’t really effective at encouraging books.

Mind over Muscle:

David Brooks makes a claim saying that women are just overall better at learning than men. How

the world is transitioning to a women’s world as science and math develop and grow into the

gateway of success. He says that girls are less likely to have learning disabilities, are less

distracting, and are just overall better at reading and writing. He also says how women are less

likely to get involved in extracurricular classes in schools like yearbooks and clubs and thus have

more time to work their grades and study for classes and thus have a higher graduation rate than

men. But he also says that there are some social bounds that will exist because of this. Like how

colleges are more lenient with males because of this and more strict and restricted on girls. He

ends by saying that we should also focus more on men rather than just feminine equality.

Essay:

David Brooks' idea of how we should focus more on men and helping them rather than

focusing on feminine equality is really questionable within society. It seems wrong to say we

should focus less feminine equality and rather focus on helping the education of boys. There are

some reasons why this claim is wrong overall and questionable. One of the biggest reasons is

how boys were raised at a young age. Another reason is the expectations and roles boys in

general are expected to follow. There are many reasons why boys are doing worse in school and
changing the focus from gender equality to better education for boys seems wrong because many

other factors can be included that can be related to the reason.

One of the major reasons why boys are doing worse in school is because of how boys are

raised at a young age. They are taught that this way is the real way to be a man while this way is

the wrong way. Don’t do this. For example, Justin Baldo talked about how masculinity was used

to define what a man is and how it affects themselves as an individual in his TED talk. One

specific example is that when he was young, he always thought his father, who was so kind and

loving, wasn’t a true man because he wasn’t strong and quiet and powerful. He was taught this a

very young age and because of that, stuck with him. It’s hard to unlearn something especially

when it’s been taught at a young age. What young people learn at a young age is extremely

influential to what they grow up to be and how they will act and perceive things. They will need

to have a strong mindset to actually understand what it means to be a man. This is one thing

Justin Baldo realizes as a man at an older age. He was exposed to it after seeing the trends of

who he acted as in his career and actually thought about and came to a conclusion that men are

not what they seem to be on the outside. Young boys are taught to be quiet about their personal

problems and have to suppress it. This could be the reason why boys are overall worse in school

than females because females aren’t taught to be quiet and shy about their personal feelings.

Another example is a personal example that I encountered when I was young. In 3rd grade, my

class went to go play a game called kickball. This was a game I was really good at and many

people always wanted me on their team. I thought I was really cool but came the day we started

dodgeball. I was really bad at this sport and a lot of people actually started to down me on it

because I was good at one sport while being bad at another. However, my friend who was a

female never had this problem even though she was good at kickball but was bad at dodgeball. I
felt like I was supposed to be good at sports because I am a male and it’s just an expectation for

us. This has really changed my view as a boy. This showed me that boys should be less sensitive

about their feelings and that brought me to becoming more of a shy person and more afraid to

show any emotions. This is a thing that many boys can relate to and thus have problems sharing

things like if they need help or if they feel sad or something like that. So thus boys aren’t just

overall unintelligent, but rather are afraid to ask questions and show that they are confused and

thus they play it off differently like saying they don’t really care much about the subject.

To add to the way boys are raised at a young age, boys also have to fulfil these

expectations that are given to them just because they are boys. David Brooks claims that we need

to change the curriculum to fit the wants of a boy but this is questionable. Different factors can

be included to explain why boys overall are doing worse in schools than females. Another one

would be the expectations. In society today, males are expected to be more masculine and less

sensitive. More dull to everything and be able to just take in and absorb all the negatives in their

lives. This is a stereotype that doesn’t really apply to modern society. Husbands being the more

strong and masculine figure in the family is a stereotype that should be something men don’t

look up to. Instead, they should be expected to be a family person. One whose main purpose is to

protect and teach their children what it's like to be in society. Not just be a person who just

protects the family. This is one example of an expectation for men. Another would be in schools.

In my old school, Boys were expected to be the more athletic kind and less sensitive. Boys were

judged and were discouraged to show the sensitive part of them while when girls were sensitive,

they were pitied and everyone would help and support them. This expectation for boys can really

alter and change what they think. What this did to me personally was make it so that I was very

self conscious about asking for help from teachers and other peers. This really altered and hurt
my learning capabilities. I would have to self study and even when that fails, I would just accept

I was bad at the subject rather than ask for help and improve at that subject, I would just accept

failure. This is a real problem in society, having expectations for boys and girls, and it needs to

be changed. I feel like these expectations are something that really alters the personality

drastically and harms the person’s capabilities. For example, my mom is self conscious about the

way she looks. Everyone tells her she looks beautiful, which is true, and pretty much no flaws in

her looks but she is constantly self conscious because she feels like she isn’t fulfilling the

standard of the way a female should look. This really alters what she does in her free time and

goes out into public. So the expectation pressure doesn't only apply to males, it applies to

everyone. Everyone has an expectation over something they can change and that really alters the

capabilities that person could have. So thus, the claim that boys are just overall dumb in school is

pratically wrong and very questionable. Especially in modern society.

All in all, boys aren’t just overall dumb in schools, but rather the gender rolls they are

taught and expectations they have as a male. Males are taught to be less sensitive on their

feelings and to be more masculine. I don’t disagree with changing the curriculum for schools but

I disagree with changing it to help the boys out more. I believe schools should talk about how

gender roles are a bad thing and how society has evolved overtime. This will help teach boys to

be more sensitive and to not be afraid of it making it easier to achieve gender equality overall.

Knowledge is power and children are the future of human society. We must teach children the

right things that can help evolve human nature to its greatest potential. So overall, David Brooks'

claim is generally too broad and wrong. We shouldn’t focus on helping the boys and less on

feminine equality but rather, the overall education for all.