Thursday, February 19, 2004
Latham wants Boys to enjoy Labo(u)r!
Michael Bachelard and Rebecca DiGirolamo report in today's Australian, that boys just aren't being enough like boys for Mark Latham:
Update: This rant also appeared as my first ever Letter to the Editor in Friday 20 Feb's The Australian.
Michael Bachelard and Rebecca DiGirolamo report in today's Australian, that boys just aren't being enough like boys for Mark Latham:
MARK Latham has put boys and their problems at the centre of the political agenda, lamenting a "crisis in masculinity" leading to drugs, crime, suicide and failure at school. Returning to the debate about "social capital" that has wrongfooted John Howard, Mr Latham yesterday put his faith in mentoring programs to provide role models for boys, who he said were struggling because of a lack of old-fashioned "muscle jobs" and a decline in social and personal relationships. In a separate development in South Australia, Premier Mike Rann announced he would radically restructure the state's education system to make it more boy-friendly and less academic. But the push for special consideration for boys could meet resistance from teacher unions and other voices from Labor's Left, with Australian Education Union Victorian secretary Mary Bluett saying the problems were complex and "politicians tend to look at very simple, single-response solutions". ... "Our boys are suffering from a crisis of masculinity. As blue-collar muscle jobs have declined, their identity and relationships have become blurred and confused," [Mr Latham] said.Yes, there are less "traditional" blue collar jobs which historically have been dominated by men. Yes, there may very well be a 'crisis in masculinity' as the image of 'being a man' lags behind the way masculinity is reshaping in the twenty-first century. However, the solution is not to lament the changing face of being a bloke, but rather, as Mr Latham has suggested in other arenas, to see this as an opportunity, an opportunity to escape the gender binaries which make men think they should fit into a very narrow spectrum of identity. Rather, reshaping curriculum to address masculinity as a changing and fluid category may very well ease the pressure on boys to "be boys". And Mr Rann, the problem is making boys think that they should be 'less academic' and thus 'boy-like'; it's not the solution!!
Update: This rant also appeared as my first ever Letter to the Editor in Friday 20 Feb's The Australian.
[Posted by Unknown] [10:30 am]
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