Discrimination Or Lack Of Effort

There is an interesting law suit that's been filed in Massachusetts. It involves sex discrimination. But hold on! It isn't the usual suit whether a woman claims to be discriminated against. This time the male is saying the reverse. Doug Anglin, a senior student at Milton High School has file a federal civil rights (sex discrimination is one of the targets of that law) complaint contending that his school discriminates against boys by making it easier for girls to succeed academically.
Doug says his school places fewer rules on girls than boys, and that boys more often get punished. "The system is designed to the disadvantage of males. From elementary school level onward they establish a philosophy that if you sit down, follow orders, and listen to what they say, you'll do well and get good grades. Men naturally rebel against this".
That is dubious at best. Doug seems to stereotype both the boys and girls and to assign a "philosophy" to each. It's a premise a judge is not likely to accept. In the case of Milton High girls outnumber boys almost 2 to 1 on the Milton honor roll, and 60% of the Advanced Placement students are female. Yet there is nothing preventing boys from reversing those numbers, and aren't they the result of effort, not privilege?
In his complaint, Doug admits that "too many boys give up to soon", in their studies. Yet, he does not show any evidence linking girls to the failure of those boys. I think it likely that it is not the girl's or teacher's "negative attitude" toward boys that causes that. It is more likely laziness on the part of the boys that causes the disparity.
What is Doug asking the judge to order? Well, he wants Milton High to give credit for playing sports (because more boys participate in them than girls), as it does for art and drama (a typically more female area of interest. I hardly think playing a sport is an academic pursuit. Art and dram are. And I wonder why Doug and the other boys don't participate more in academic areas in which they are under represented.
Doug is also asking that some academic areas be made pass/fail, rather than graded so the boys don't risk lowering their final academic average when taking ore challenging courses. He thinks more boys would be willing to enroll in them if they were.
Wow! It seems that Doug has a negative impression of the boys at his school. Doug also wants the judge to do away with the school's community service requirement (each student must complete a certain number of volunteer work, such as being a hospital aid), which he says boys resist. (seems to me the problem is again laziness, not favoritism toward girls. Good luck to Doug, but I think he is wrong and going down a blank street.
In the U.S. it has been well documented in recent years that boys are falling further behind girls in studying and grades, and increasingly more often suspended for disciplinary reasons. I think the fault lies not in girl achievement, but rather in a lack of effort by boys. A law suit won't change that.
Just when I think I have found the year's dumbest criminal, I hear about an even more stupid one. He is Sylvester Williams, 21, of Leavenworth, Kansas. Sylvester may win the dumb criminal trophy this year after his latest stunt. He was arrested after police answered Sylvester's business card soliciting his drug sales.
Haha That's right. Sylvester had business cards printed and handed out at random announcing his drug trading. I guess Sylvester thought the police could not read because police officers used the car to track him down and arrest him for selling crack cocaine. Sylvester's cards must have been printed while he was high on his own product! They show an image of what appears to be an alarm clock being hit by a boxing glove and saying, "For a quick hit on time call the boss". Now Sylvester will have to watch his own clock as the time gets nearer for his certain to be prison stretch.