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All very true. But no one is listening, especially not in education. Boys' schools, also, are not immune to the girls'-only celebration. Given the current obsession with 'elite boys' schools are cesspools of toxicity' trope that features so frequently -- thanks to our former Australian of the Year and her ilk -- in mainstream media, the road ahead is dire and despairing. School leaders seem to be trapped in the false narrative of Girls Need More, even when data shows evidence of 'boy trouble' in the academic classroom. I applaud Arndt's commitment to males, yet grow frustrated by the inaction from the Powers that Be who could make change.

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It was a planned approach to ensure females achieved higher grades.

Look at the make up and proportions of female to male teachers. A high majority in primary education are female teachers. A lesser minority proportion of male teachers also teach in high schools.

Boys need effective, responsible male adult role models, especially given the absence of so many fathers in sole parent households.

Boys’ self esteem is affected. Their worth is being downplayed.

The imbalance in the makeup of teachers in classrooms has, for the last couple of decades, combined with the drive to direct as many young people to university.

That drive for University schooling overrides the needs, interests and aspirations of young people themselves.

University is not suited or needed by all young people.

Trades suffer from insufficient trained workers to fill jobs, with employers having to resort to bringing in trained employees from overseas.

The indoctrination of children has become such that it’s not just socialism that is given priority, over freedom, liberty and democracy, but manual work is downplayed and seen as not good enough in favour of even more theory than is pushed onto children in Australia’s State monopoly controlled schooling.

Only real unrestricted freedom of choice in education will ensure the best interests of children are met, not the ideological and political goals for children imposed by the States, through Education Departments dominated by the lasting effects of chiefly left leaning educrats including on a now single, nationalised curriculum, irrespective of which governments are elected to govern.

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It's all part of the socialist, communist totalitarian one world government agenda conspicuously being pushed by Klaus Schwab and other pusbags like Morrison and his ilk. Destroying men's inner strength and future career prospects is making it easier for them to impose this evil on us.

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I love this story, it’s so true. Just recently our female mayor declared that women only could apply for garbo truck drivers positions. Have a guess, no female wanted the job. Having raised two sons I do notice, males are resilient, hard working and will take any job to provide for themselves and their family, todays women are princesses and are not tough like women from years ago. The reason is because they have been enabled too much by the handbag brigade and weak politicians

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Great read

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I'm employed by an organization currently running a "#breakthebias" campaign, ostensibly to stop the terrible discrimination imposed by men against females wanting employment in the agricultural sphere. I feel so guilty that my white, male privilege keeps job positions from being filled for many months while we wait for a poor biased-against female to apply for a job involving many lonely hours on the road, eating roadhouse food and encouraging the heart disease along. Meanwhile the scores of male applications are ignored. Clearly the bias against women is everywhere. These in-house campaigns seem ubiquitous and so far I've managed to hide from them because it is not a good look to not enthusiastically participate.

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This is a terrific and welcome article about a topic which I think has become a national disgrace. Your reference to the 1970s are consistent with my memories of this period. As you may be aware, my mother worked in the PM department and was involved in some of these educational reforms that you refer to. Although I did not participate in any of this, I recall being quizzed about these changes to gauge my reaction. What did I know? I was just a disinterested teenager. There was no discrimination that I could see. The girls seemed to sit up at the front of class and get all of the attention. While this has certainly worked well for girls, I am concerned about the appalling impact this has had on boys. I have no doubt that the blue line on your graph was above the pink during the 1970s. That's why all the talk was how to change the outcomes - there was never any discussion about fairness that I can recall. I tried to find a copy of the SMH HSC lift-out published on 26 January 1997. I was so struck when I saw it I've never forgotten it. The lift-out cover has a stylised picture where every female figure is depicted in a positive light as either a successful HSC recipient, a proud teacher or a doting parent and all the male figures are depicted as outsiders - the postman on a motorbike delivering the results etc. Your points about hiding the figures is also right on the money. Everybody knows, for example, that the now closed Don Dale juvenile detention centre was occupied by 95% aboriginal children at the time of the infamous 4 Corners episode. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was an even higher percentage of boys at the facility (97%). And look what's happened to the Liberal Party in the years since the John Howard attempt. There's Michaelia Cash's who once said in support of yet another $15 million splurge on promoting women in STEM: "We need a concerted national effort to overcome the cultural and organisational factors that discourage girls and women from studying STEM and which subsequently limits their career opportunities". There's never been any discouragement that I can see. I was staggered to see a paper recently that stated there are actually 337 current schemes that are designed to promote women in STEM. None of them ever seem to finish and more of them accumulate. This is after decades of systematically tilting the balance in favour of girls. After seeing your graphs it makes me wonder - why do we need a Minister for Women? And why do we also need an Assistant Minister for Women?

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Bettina, I admire how you maintain the rage, but despair of how sick our society is on so many fronts. As further evidence of females surging ahead of males educationally, look at the gender (im)balance of veterinary graduates. Australia now has 7 vet schools, of which 4 are relative newbies (Murdoch, CSU, Adelaide, JCU), and not really informative. Look at Melbourne, Sydney and UQ to track the explosion in female vet numbers. Some of my best friends are female veterinarians, and I have written glowing reviews for several of them of their achievements and dedication (I've done the same for male colleagues asking for my input), contributing to their career advancement and promotion, mostly in academia, some to professorial level. But the imbalance disadvantages livestock producers in remote rural locations, who have less and less access to veterinary services to ensure the continued health and wellbeing of their animals

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With the way Universities are going, I would be very reluctant to encourage a male to study there…..we need balance and it’s not happening. Maybe we should go back to Girls schools for girls and Boys school for boys.

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The eastern powers are rising. Soon there will be no educated males to defend the hoards of fem spawn as they do their 'peace-studies', social engineering, and indulge in a city centric lifestyle.

Try being a male nurse. "Nurses adopt a pack like mentality, are you strong enough to stand it." Aged Care manager to me starting out in Aged Care.

Try being a male school teacher. The education dept in Perth (WA) was described to me as "the states largest women's refuge". as women get the promotions the men resign.

This favour the girls began years ago when boys would be caned across the butt girls would get a ruler on the hand and it was a tap.

Joy ******* was known as the "ball kicker" and not footballs either. I saw her front up to a boy who got to the ball before she did and kick him in the testicles. He went down screaming managed to hit her once and was later caned for it. His father arrived at the school the next day and we kids several classrooms away heard the row that went on between the headmaster and the dad.

No action was taken against the girl. This was 1960. Thus females of an evil bent have learned that the system devotes them, will protect them and indeed loves them.

So blaming boys of today provides some balance for the horrors of the past does it?

The eastern powers are rising.........

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And so many ads and promotions on TV highlighting high-achieving girls over and over again- scoring goals, getting praise, being happy and admired- and never a boy in sight when they've been in the same classrooms, taken part in the same activities. Absolute disgrace! Thanks, Tina, for pointing it out, again. So disappointing for anyone interested in basic fairness.

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