Society Mold on Men

Society has placed a mold on the role that men are supposed to play, what men are supposed to do, and how they are supposed to act in their culture. Throughout “Why Johnny Won’t Read”, “Mind over Muscle”, “Putting Down the Gun”, and “Boy Problems”, the authors share the different difficulties that young boys and young men face on a daily basis. Overall, the central issue affecting young boys and young men is that the education system is focused increasingly more towards the succession of women.

In “Why Johnny Won’t Read”, Mark Bauerlein and Sandra Stotsky state that the literature assigned for students does not “reflect the dispositions of male students” (Bauerlein & Stotsky 409). Bauerlein and Stotsky claim that “publishers seem to be more interested in avoiding “Masculine” perspectives or “stereotypes” than in getting boys to like what they are assigned to read” (Bauerlein & Stotsky 409). This shows that people are more interested in what is popular rather than what is going to help the young men succeed. Boys are interested in action and adventure, but in return stories about “brave women abound” (Bauerlein & Stotsky 409). Boys are going to read more if they are interested in the topic. Publishers need to write pieces that appeal to boys, but at the same time can help them prosper.

In “Mind over Muscle”, David Brooks supports the claim that education has been over feminized. Brooks tells that this world used to be a man’s world until the information age came along, in which education is the “gateway to success. And that means this is turning into a woman’s world, because women are better students than men” (Brooks 410). Brooks asks several questions trying to figure out ways for boys to succeed. He suggests that we need to take a look at the “innate differences between sexes” (Brooks 411). Brooks tells that the problem with females outdoing males could very well be from society but he also suggest that it could be from the basic differences between males and females as well.

In “Putting Down the Gun”, Rebecca Walker proves that the expectations of the outside world truly does play a role on the young boys and young men. Walker points out that boys have to have one of two things to fit in, either “fight actually in a sport, or fight virtually on the computer” (Walker 413). Boys are always trying to fit in, to feel like they belong in a society that doesn’t have a place for them if they do not play sports, or can’t get the highest scores in the newest video games. They are always under pressure to be the best that they can be.

In “Boy Problems”, Ann Hulbert expresses that “boys appear to be later verbal bloomers than girls, which sets them up for early encounters with academic failure” (Hulbert 416). Hulbert confirms her claim by appealing to logos throughout her essay. She states that girls are more likely to graduate and go to college rather than men. Hulbert also suggests that males can join the army, can do construction and manufacturing work. Jobs like those do not require a college education but do pay very well. This shows that males don’t actually need to do that well in school and can still land a well paying job, which could very possibly be why education is focused more towards women. Women need an education to get a job, whereas males do not.

These four pieces confirm that the education system is focused increasingly more towards the succession of women. We need to make changes in the education system to make young men and young boys strive as much as women have. If there is literature that appeals to the male race, they are more likely to read it, and do considerably better than if they had to read something out of their interest. Females are better at focusing and paying attention, while “boys are asked to sit quietly for hours at a stretch under conditions where they find it harder to thrive” (Brooks 411). All in all males struggle in school and society puts them under a lot of pressure. Society has set up women to succeed, and not necessarily men. Males and females function and learn differently and we need to fix our education system so that both races are able to succeed and flourish at the same rate.