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education
Girls = 64% of National Honor Society
That doesn't seem like news to me. I always thought the girls were smarter in high school. Maybe now people are just waking up or the statistics are real. Boys are falling behind girls in math and speaking. Or as Kristof says, "they just seem to try harder".
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: March 27, 2010...The latest surveys show that American girls on average have roughly achieved parity with boys in math. Meanwhile, girls are well ahead of boys in verbal skills, and they just seem to try harder.
The National Honor Society says that 64 percent of its members — outstanding high school students — are girls. Some colleges give special help to male applicants — yes, that’s affirmative action for white males — to avoid skewed sex ratios.
Read that last line again. Affirmative action for male white students. We can't let the boys fall behind some uppity girls now can we?
Friday Open thread - Updated
I've been quite absent getting ready for Thanksgiving and the week after.
Pap smears? Not a subject I'm knowledgeable on, but from past experience I know how important they are.
Afghanistan is the most dangerous place in the world to be born, especially if you're a girl.
I just read The Kite Runner which is a total eye opener about what life was like there before, before the Russians and before the Taliban and before, well before the world ended for that country.
I've added the BBC photo of an Afghan girl to illustrate what is at stake if we leave. As much as I hate war and guns, as much as I detest those in charge of Afghanistan, I cannot support us leaving this country. In fact I am strongly in favor of a totally different approach.
Let's plant roots and stay much like we did in Japan, Korea, Germany. Let's stay and give them the time. possibly generations, to change attitudes and join the modern world. nh
Eight Years Later: 'Most Dangerous Place To Be Born'
ABC’s Nick Schifrin files this sad item from Kabul:
In a press conference in Geneva today, the South Asia regional director for UNICEF said this: "Afghanistan today is without a doubt the most dangerous place to be born.”
Dan Toole was speaking about UNICEF’s annual report The State of the World’s Children, which is available here(pdf).
Toole said Afghanistan has the highest infant mortality rate in the world: 257 deaths for every 1,000 live births. He also said a lack of security prevents polio and measles vaccine campaigns and decreases the number of children attending schools, especially girls. 317 schools have been destroyed by the Taliban in the past year, he said, killing 124 people.
Here’s another link(pdf) – to drive the point home. This is the actual list of mortality rates around the world.