Something is quietly happening to boys in western education… they are failing.

Failing across the board, at all levels, and for decades.

And yet – despite the gap getting bigger and bigger, our knowledge and interest in understanding what is going on remains as apathetic as it always has; widely ignored by advocates, educationalists, politicians, and the media alike.

Nobody is really doing anything.

And so, we are left with far more questions than answers...

To quote @RichardvReeves , arguably the world’s leading authority on men and boys:

‘World-class scholars have pored over the low rates of male college enrolment and completion, piling up data and running regressions.

I have read these studies and spoken to many of the scholars. The short summary of their conclusions is: We don’t know.’”

“We don’t know.”

You have no idea how often I read that, or have to say it myself, and it is simply not good enough anymore.

However –

One of the ideas that attempts to explain why boys are behind, is the controversial idea of teacher grading bias...


It’s a phenomenon that reveals itself when you take boys and girls of equal intelligence, and look at how the grades change when it comes to teacher assessments.

Yup.

Boys and girls do equally well in tests, as an objective measure of raw intelligence, but when it comes to the classrooms... something changes.

So what happened when that objective measure of exams (that mercifully keeps boys’ grades somewhat tethered to girls’), was taken away during COVID-19 lockdowns?

Can such a once-in-a-generation event be used to examine the phenomena of teacher bias?

A new headline grabbing study on IPV, is causing a stir in Australia; with shocking claims of ‘one in three men admit to using partner violence’.

Whilst the online world shake their fists and scream in outrage; most will fail to dig into the study, to see what’s hiding within.
First –

It's worth asking what constitutes 'violence'; an alarming word that has been so liberally splashed across front pages and social media feeds alongside the study.

And you'd be forgiven for assuming this meant physical violence... but think again...

“TheTinMen is a liar!”

Yes. It’s a familiar sight.

But what people don’t realise about TheTinMen, is that I don’t do the research, I just gather the best of it, and present it back to you.

Sorry to burst your bubble –

But I am not a prestigious professor, whose pioneering work gave birth to an entire field of research, I am not building consortia of scholars, travelling the world, gathering life’s greatest insights...

I am not founding journals, research labs, or accepting lifetime achievement awards.

But those whose research I share with you… are.

So, to those accusing me of misleading people, of hyperbole, or of flat out lying…

Understand you’re not actually accusing me of lying at all, but the giants on whose shoulders I so meekly stand.

Of course, my biggest ‘lie’ – of which I stand accused by even the most noble of advocates – is my insistence of ‘gender parity in partner violence rates’.

Yes.

It’s the one that really gets steam blowing out of peoples’ ears.

But, again, it’s not me who’s making that claim, but someone more experienced and knowledgeable than either of us, and likely, anyone else that’s ever lived...

And for partner violence...

That person was the late Professor Murray Straus. Straus was not some tin-hat-wearing armchair expert.

He was the literal founding father of the field of family violence research, whose work provided the bedrock we stand on, and whose research ranks him alongside godlike scientific minds like Hawking, Einstein and Friedman...

Are women paid less than men? Yes.
Are women paid less than men, for the same work? No.

It's amazing how carefully phrasing a question in a particular way, will give you the answers most politically convenient to you.

So let's take a look at what's really inside the pay gap... The Korn Ferry Pay Index uses data on millions of employees, across 14,000+ companies, and dozens of countries...

And finds the pay gap miraculously evaporates, as soon as you apply even the most basic variable controls.

Such as job level, job area, function, or place of work.

Domestic violence isn't a 'gendered issue', and I'm amazed at how much data there is to show this.

Paper after paper, survey after survey; each is slid across the table, to show equal rates of abuse, and each is rejected like a petulant child splitting out their vegetables. Why?



Straus, Dutton, Gelles, Desmarais, Fiebert… the world’s leading researchers line up to show us the reality of domestic violence, and we wave them away because some sassy mug, garish t shirt, or savage tweet, claims differently.

So can we ignore the 1,700 studies of the PASK?