It's like the traditional society had some values and roles for some reason.
We are lucky that progressive taught us it was all a damaging and arbitrary social construct.

Say your dad dies when you're 8. If your neighborhood is not filled with countless other daddyless kids, I suspect there's a sort of herd immunity that goes on, but in social ways -- protecting even kids without fathers from the effects of a fatherless community.

I believe research has shown that boys whose fathers died, even when the boys were young, were not as likely to descend into lawlessness, drugs, and violence as boys who were abandoned by their fathers.

I can't find the article I read about that, so I can't cite anything specific. I just remember reading that.

Family disruptions, even ones where there is a new dad quite quickly, cause significant problems as well. But broken homes are now the norm. Intact family units are well below 50% and continuing to fall.

I agree and all of this is symptomatic of the decline of the Judeo-Christian values. We can weep and wail over these tragedies but ignore the source of wisdom, which is the Bible and God. You don't have to be a legalistic wacko to pick up a Bible and see what is written there and what built up the Western World. The neglect of this Book in favor of an endless quest for rights and self is what has left our young men (and women) in the horrible situations they are today. People have never been so disrespected in relationships as they are today. If we have hope in this life only, it doesn't leave us disappointed; it leaves us in despair and all the so-called free sex is merely a reflection of that intense personal bitterness. Christ said life is more than bread and physical satiations; He is after the whole person and approaching relationships as whole people makes for a better quality of life Here and in the Hereafter. Hope lies in ignoring society, marching to the beat of your own drum, and being willing to non-conform to the mores of today. It takes all kinds of guts to do this, but the payoff is incredible, even now. Jesus Christ never gets the popular vote, but He is still the way, the truth, and the life in all matters practical and eternal. There is a ton of poor representatives of God, but to overly emphasize them is a form of humanism and giving them too much importance. You can and should think for yourself. Save yourself and your own family from this wicked generation, and don't end up just another statistic. The rise in homeless youth in my state is directly related to all of these issues, and it is time to start caring for these people and doing something about our neighborhoods and our streets.

I suspect that we're going to have to hit the wall before 'society' is willing to reconsider its treatment of boys.

Because right now, it's simply not acceptable to acknowledge that women are treated preferentially and have been for over a generation. Nor that female dominated institutions are often biased against boys and will undermine their performance.

For example, it's been pretty well established that deliberate changes in course delivery, grading practices, and testing instruments are the dominant factor in the reversal of class ranks. That is, grading has been specifically tailored to privilege girls and has been since the mid 80's.

On top of that, female teachers have been shown to issue course grades for boys that are significantly below their demonstrated aptitude on standardized tests. They also inflate girls' grades, though not by the same margin.

This is why relative class ranks reversed so suddenly and severely, with concomitant declines in math, reading and writing competency. Because these changes didn't actually improve the performance of girls, they simply reduced them by less than that of boys. The carry on effects are evident in the dramatic disparity in college attendance and degree attainment, here again accompanied by a decline in competency.

But it's verboten to acknowledge these causes, though they are consicuous in the data. Rather we hear that boys are just lazy and would rather play video games. At least they're no longer blaming 'rock and roll music'.

Here's an article by ex-UCAS chief Mary Cook trying to highlight these same issues - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/our-education-system-must-stop-ignoring-its-bias-against-boys/

I agree and all of this is symptomatic of the decline of the Judeo-Christian values. We can weep and wail over these tragedies but ignore the source of wisdom, which is the Bible and God. You don't have to be a legalistic wacko to pick up a Bible and see what is written there and what built up the Western World. The neglect of this Book in favor of an endless quest for rights and self is what has left our young men (and women) in the horrible situations they are today. People have never been so disrespected in relationships as they are today. If we have hope in this life only, it doesn't leave us disappointed; it leaves us in despair and all the so-called free sex is merely a reflection of that intense personal bitterness. Christ said life is more than bread and physical satiations; He is after the whole person and approaching relationships as whole people makes for a better quality of life Here and in the Hereafter. Hope lies in ignoring society, marching to the beat of your own drum, and being willing to non-conform to the mores of today. It takes all kinds of guts to do this, but the payoff is incredible, even now. Jesus Christ never gets the popular vote, but He is still the way, the truth, and the life in all matters practical and eternal.

"Jesus Christ never gets the popular vote"

Stop blaspheming you filthy harlot.

This has been happening a lot recently - https://bigleaguepolitics.com/woman-who-media-claims-created-black-hole-image-contributed-0-26-of-code/

I work in a technology that's used in video games, and so a lot of our industry bodies and events are influenced by that culture. Video gaming is overwhelmingly male up and down the technology stack.

Recently these companies have gotten religion and started promoting their 'inclusiveness' of women ( they'd been getting a lot of bad press ). This has resulted in all sorts of awards and promotions going to relatively unknown women along with tons of adulatory media coverage. It's so over done that people don't even try to deny that it's an artificial trend.

So now we've got a bunch of relatively inexperienced women being held up as authorities on the industry. But being that most haven't had much experience or impact, and know that their success is due to gender politics, they focus their newfound influence on .. gender politics. And of course the media love this because it confirms their assumption that our industry is rife with 'misogyny' - as in 'see! all of the most talented people are actually women and they're telling us they've been held back by misogyny'.

The industry's rep is actually worse now than it was before!

This has been happening a lot recently - bigleaguepolitics.com/woman-who-media-claims-created-black-hole-image-contributed-0-26-of-code/

I work in a technology that's used in video games, and so a lot of our industry bodies and events are influenced by that culture. Video gaming is overwhelmingly male up and down the technology stack.

Recently these companies have gotten religion and started promoting their 'inclusiveness' of women ( they'd been getting a lot of bad press ). This has resulted in all sorts of awards and promotions going to relatively unknown women along with tons of adulatory media coverage. It's so over done that people don't even try to deny that it's an artificial trend.

So now we've got a bunch of relatively inexperienced women being held up as authorities on the industry. But being that most haven't had much experience or impact, and know that their success is due to gender politics, they focus their newfound influence on .. gender politics. And of course the media love this because it confirms their assumption that our industry is rife with 'misogyny' - as in 'see! all of the most talented people are actually women and they're telling us they've been held back by misogyny'.

The industry's rep is actually worse now than it was before!

oops sorry for the dbl post - the first was shown as rejected due to the URL

"We can weep and wail over these tragedies but ignore the source of wisdom, which is the Bible and God."

Bah, humbug.

Even as I champion, not just acknowledge the idea that our advantage is due to our being founded by British Protestants, with their sense of duty to the greater good, I am in full view of the plain fact that billions of people have never held a Bible™, yet they prosper - in some cases, they have done so for millennia.
Some have never even argued about whether someone else is worshipping the "right" way. Of course, you're Catholic, right?

You might notice that our most successful competitors do not care to put God™ first.

(The ™ signifies the very specific nature of religion in modern America, which, among other things, astonishingly limits God™ to those things written just so in the Bible™, ignores its having been edited several times due to inadequacy, etc.)

What you are really seeing is a grasping for power by "educators", who can be seen everywhere neglecting actual instruction in favor of social engineering. In the process of pretending they know better, they are building an educational replica of modern Detroit.
This is because of MONEY. There is little to be had pointing at STEM textbooks, but tremendous sums to be had if the public can be convinced that only the priesthood can teach.

Rebecca: Jesus Christ never gets the popular vote, but He is still the way, the truth, and the life in all matters practical and eternal. There is a ton of poor representatives of God, but to overly emphasize them is a form of humanism and giving them too much importance. You can and should think for yourself.

Yes, think for yourself.

If one wants to think that Jesus was the son of God (or wants to think that Muhammad was commanded to "Read" by the angel Gabriel, or wants to think there are other holy figures in history) that's fine.

And if one wants to think there are no "holy" figures in history and has no interest in religion but also thinks that there might be some unknown power out there called "God", or one wants to think there is no "God" at all, that's fine too.

I have no problem with the teachings of Jesus (and I imagine I'd likely agree with many of the teachings of Muhammad.) I think Jesus would have been a good dude to have a beer with. I think he would have been far more like Martin Luther King Jr. or Jimmy Carter than Pat Robertson or Mike Pence. It's the "BFF with God" thing I don't buy into. (I was raised Lutheran -- in Minnesota -- but haven't been into any religion since about 18.)

You don't need Jesus, or Muhammad, or other "holy" figures to learn and know how to lead a decent life as a human being. All that you need to be taught, and know, is one simple rule: don't do something to someone that they wouldn't want you to do. Everything flows from that.

And it's a crisis of dadlessness.

I wonder which government policies that favor/subsidize such behaviour might have some cupability??

I am in full view of the plain fact that billions of people have never held a Bible™, yet they prosper - in some cases, they have done so for millennia.

Does the rain not fall upon both the good man and the evil doer?

I'm not so torqued up about such, even this particular case study since it is self-correcting: that which can not continue will not continue. If we're lucky, it'll take 3 or maybe 4 generations to right the ship.

If we're not, it'll take a 1,000 years. In either case, I hope to not live long enough to see the correction occur.

"Does the rain not fall upon both the good man and the evil doer?

If the good man and the evil doer are both on the plain, in Spain, then yes.

If the good man and the evil doer are both on the plain, in Spain, then yes. ~ JD at April 13, 2019 2:57 PM

Well, that rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. So, it's possible it would not fall on either or both.

"If we're not, it'll take a 1,000 years."

We would be conquered by the Chinese and/or Russians long before then. And that'll fix it, right quick too, I suspect.

✔ Conan the Grammarian at April 13, 2019 6:56 AM

> Well, that rain in Spain falls
> mainly on the plain.

Typically masculine arrogant mainsplaining.

I'll see myself out.

Maybe in Spain it falls on the plain, but not on the Spanish Main, because it's known for rain.

Good lord you people post early for a Sunday.

From the 19th-century judge Charles Bowen:

"The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella;
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust hath the just’s umbrella."

"That is, grading has been specifically tailored to privilege girls and has been since the mid 80's."

I think it started happening earlier than that. I was in elementary school in the years straddling 1970, and I noticed then that girls seemed to be graded largely on deportment. The ones who were tomboys or smart-mouths or fidgety got worse grades than the "good girls", even though their actual grades on tests and homework seemed to be about the same. I started college in 1980, and I watched a lot of those "good girls" hit the wall. Many of them were genuinely puzzled: "Why am I not getting this? I was at the top of my class in high school." I tutored a few of them and I could tell how much they had been allowed to slide in primary schools; they graduated without learning things that nearly all of the college-bound guys learned, like algebra or advanced grammar / sentence construction.

It was in the early '70s that a lot of high schools eliminated classes like shop and mechanical drawing, as well as music (the one arts class that a lot of boys were interested in). Without those things, I suspect that the dropout rate for boys has increased (will have to go check).

1) If Bouman created the most important algorithm then she very much deserves credit. I have coded Fourier Transforms and they are not called Curtis's transforms. When I did come up with an algorithm, it is called Curtis's algorithm even though I am not even working on the project.
2) This remark in the Big League Politics story is very misleading "her role may have been mostly supervisory." I know lots of people who have very appropriately been given the lion's share of credit because they were the leader of a coding group.

If she developed the algorithm and led a significant part of the coding effort, she deserves a lot (or most) of credit.

From the article:
"No one algorithm or person made this image,” wrote Bouman, “it required the amazing talent of a team of scientists from around the globe and years of hard work” to capture the black hole image.

Absolutely.

You looked up Bouman's own words on the subject Curtis. She denies responsibility and has done so repeatedly. Some articles have responded by talking about how she doesn't realize what an impact she had. But that is all bullshit. I have no issue with Bouman. She did contribute and she was valuable. But she is also accurate that she wasn't critical or pivotal. Other groups are trying to make her into something she isn't. They are sexist and desperate for a great woman scientist to hold up like a flag. So they are building a false mythos around her.

As I said, I take no issue with Dr Bouman. She has acted very responsibly. I do take issue with the bigots trying to use Dr Bouman for their own personal agendas.