The brains of the boys and the girls:
When I was a lad it was generally assumed that men and women were quite different. Then the liberals got their thumbs on the throat of the culture and announced to us that this was all an illusion; sexual differences, so far as the brain goes, are simply assigned by society. Some brave souls continued to mutter things like girls really do like dolls more and boys like to play with cap guns. You remember the story when Achilles was hiding out among some women when messengers came to tell him he was going to have to fight in the Trojan War. They were told he wasn’t there, and they could see for themselves. When they looked at the young people they couldn’t tell which ones were the nubile maidens and which the great warrior so they got together a pile of stuff, mostly jewelry but one sword, and invited the group to play with the things. All the girls started trying on jewelry, but one of the number took the sword and held it at length. It would work today. A professor once told us, “Look, if you give children blocks the girls will immediately build enclosures and the boys will build towers.” I’m not even sure that it’s still true.
They people started using brain imaging techniques, and lo there did seem to be a difference. So the pendulum swung back toward where it had been. It seems to be starting to return. (The Mars and Venus Question, ECONOMIST, vol. 412 no. 8898 August 2, 2014 page 59) The current article says that sure enough boys are better with numbers and girls are better remembering things, but if you watch how a society changes, as it becomes richer and fairer everybody’s skill advance but the girls advance more than the boys.
I’ve never been a girl, so I have no idea how they think. As children it was obvious to us that the girls were better at everything: handwriting, arithmetic, history, and out in the playground the girls would socialize playing jacks, hopscotch and jump rope. The boys would just loiter unless there was an organized game. That didn’t require much social skill. If you play second base you know what’s expected of you. Then at adolescence the girls became a bit more shy and the boys became purpose oriented.
Honestly the whole human species seems hopeless. I still, in pursuit of the question of fertility, see the logic
Such sentiments are expressed by what we are to think are the brightest and best, just not in the proper order. Mark you, helping people not to be poor is a noble goal. But you can’t buy babies.
One day opinions will change. I wonder whether that will make us act more rationally on other points.
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