Last week I asked if you thought we had a “boy problem” in the United States, as reflected in lower educational scores, higher arrest rates, and a higher suicide rate, amongst other statistics. Thirty eight percent of you think that we definitely do, and I agree. As the mother of a young son in school, I think that the commenters who pointed out that our current education system is not set up particularly well to teach boys were absolutely right.

Don’t get me wrong, I agree with all the steps that have been taken to advance girls as being necessary. But it is different when an institution in which kids spend twelve or thirteen years attending favors one sex. And at the moment, that sex happens to girls. A better balance needs to happen.

As for today’s question, I will include you in a debate I was having with a friend of mine. We both had been jocks in high school, making varsity and wearing our letterman’s jackets proudly. She was talking about her daughter, and lamenting that she didn’t think she was “sports” oriented, and that maybe she would like cheerleading, which she didn’t consider a sport.

What about you?

If you are anything like me, you have already started gearing up for back to school.  Just this week I loaded up on pencils and markers at Target, which was having a sale.  Whoo-hoo!

And what about backpacks?  A good one is essential, not only for hauling home countless pieces of paper and books, but to help ease the strain on little backs by counting on good construction, ergonomic design, and sturdiness.  Becuase if your kid is anything like mine, those backpacks take a beating.

Here are some that should easily see you through the year, from preschool to college!

JanSport – SuperBreak. One of the most popular and reliable backpacks out there, at a reasonable price!

The North Face – Jester Another classic, and not too hard on the wallet.

Quiksilver Kids – Ankle Biter A nice backpack for the preschool set.

JanSport – Big Student Another great Jansport product, this time for big students, just as the name implies. Perfect for college!

The North Face – Borealis A bit more utilitarian than the one above, great for laptops.

Hurley – One Backpack Hi-tech, with moisture-wicking material on the back padding!

Dakine – Prom Another hi-tech wonder, with an insulated cooler pocket! Good for laptops, too.

JanSport – SuperBreak W Old-skool style, with one main compartment and not too much else.

Quiksilver – Schoolie Backpack 10 Be the coolest surfer on the block! MP3 holder included!

JanSport – Wheeled Superbreak And for those who like wheels to save their backs, this one is for you.

There is a website entitled “We Have Lasers!” and it is a homage to those once-ubiquitous backgrounds in school photos. I think the laser backgrounds were all the rage in the mid-eighties, and their popularity didn’t diminish until the mid-nineties or so.

Sadly, I own no portraits with lasers in the background. I believe they might have been a choice for my senior prom, and I chose a cloud-ish background instead. I know, bo-ring.  Do you have your own laser picture lurking somwhere around your mom’s house?  Submit it and become instantly famous!

Here are some delightful examples of the photos they have over at the site:

How fantastic is this picture?

What’s not to love here?

This one is too awesome for words.

She is seriously rocking those lasers!

I truly heart this one.

Ack! Acid-wash and lasers! My eyes!

via Boing Boing

A pox upon anyone who would describe this magnificent achievement by artist Neill Cameron as anything other than ABSOLUTELY AWESOME or possibly AWESOMESAUCE or AWESOMENOSITYITS RICKINSELF: an alphagory of awesomeness. It is quite simply manifestly the most magnificent mashup of the millennium.

And look, he takes requests: Facebook, Twitter, or on his blog. Alas, too late for Cthulhu crunking for Cher.
via Neatorama.

They didn’t call them the Founding Fathers for nothing! Looks like Obama’s the Biggest Daddy of them all in the lead-up to this year’s Fathers Day. Here’s the note he wrote for a little girl who played hooky in order to see him:

This question posed on Yahoo! Questions inspires a bit of hope for the next generation:

This happened a lot and my locker got to overflowing with the banned books, so I decided to put the unoccupied locker next to me to a good use. I now have 62 books in that locker, about half of what was on the list. I took care only to bring the books with literary quality. Some of these books are:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
His Dark Materials trilogy
Sabriel
The Canterbury Tales
Candide
The Divine Comedy
Paradise Lost
The Godfather
Mort
Interview with the Vampire
The Hunger Games
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Animal Farm
The Witches
Shade’s Children
The Evolution of Man
the Holy Qu’ran
… and lots more.

Anyway, I now operate a little mini-library that no one has access to but myself. Practically a real library, because I keep an inventory log and give people due dates and everything. I would be in so much trouble if I got caught, but I think it’s the right thing to do because before I started, almost no kid at school but myself took an active interest in reading! Now not only are all the kids reading the banned books, but go out of their way to read anything they can get their hands on. So I’m doing a good thing, right? Oh, and since you’re probably wondering “Why can’t you just go to a local library and check out the books?” most of the kids are too chicken or their parents won’t let them but the books. I think that people should have open minds. Most of the books were banned because they contained information that opposed Catholicism. I limit my ‘library’ to only the sophmores, juniors and seniors just in case so you can’t say I’m exposing young people to materiel they’re not mature enough for. But is what I’m doing wrong because parents and teachers don’t know about it and might not like it, or is it a good thing because I am starting appreciation of the classics and truly good novels (Not just fad novels like Twilight) in my generation?

The Underground Library! Glinda likes!

via Boing Boing

All right, so we already know that Glinda and the Munchkin are not exactly models of perfection when it comes to school and following all of the seemingly arbitrary rules.

I never thought I was rebellious in any way, but hearing the teacher complain about the way the Munchkin writes is enough to make me want to go all Zapata on her. Although with a much less violent outcome.

You see, she explained sweetly, the Munchkin does not write correctly. Why? It isn’t because his letters are formed incorrectly. Indeed, his writing is perfectly clear and legible. No, it is because when he forms a straight line, he does it from the bottom up instead of top down.

Instant disqualification!

When she told me this, I had a really hard time keeping a straight face. Was she serious? I naively assumed that if the line was straight and the letter recognizable all was good. Then I tried to explain that I wasn’t really sure this was all that important, and when he moves to cursive writing, the lines are formed going both up and down. So I wasn’t really getting the point.

But no.

The Munchkin would be suffering a lower handwriting grade if he continued to have the audacity to make straight lines in an unapproved manner.

I spoke briefly with the Munchkin about his deficient straight lines, and he whispered confidentially to me that when the teacher was around, he would make the lines the way she wanted. But when she wasn’t, back to the way he was comfortable with.

I say, don’t let the man keep you down, kid!

I’m sure that it is well known among teachers that the younger their students are, the more it can be counted on that said students will blurt out all kinds of entertaining things that the parents would probably be horrified that the teacher knew. Not necessarily saying what comes out of the child’s mouth is the complete truth, but often enough, there’s a kernel of it in there somewhere. Enough to at least highly amuse the teacher.

Now, I have no idea what the Munchkin’s teacher knows about me that both she and I would rather she didn’t. But up until this point, I haven’t really thought about much. I am fairly strict with him regarding school work, and figured that as the end of the school year approaches, I was home free.

Except.

The Munchkin is given a homework packet on Monday, to be completed during the week, and brought back on Friday. The instructions tell you which worksheets to do on which day. For the last couple of weeks, though, I have allowed the Munchkin to do the worksheets on whatever day he chooses, as long as the packet is finished by Friday morning. Being the stereotypical young boy that he is, he has been choosing to wait until the last possible day to do the work. But I figured that as long as the work was being done, did it really matter that we weren’t following the instructions to the letter?

The week before last, he gave me some resistance on finishing the packet at the appropriate time, and I threatened that he would no longer have the privilege of choosing when to do his homework if I was going to get that type of attitude. Battle royale ensued, with Glinda finally prevailing.

For Mother’s Day, the teacher instructed the children write a card to Mom, with a sentence or two thanking her for something nice that she does for them. Want to know what mine said?

Dear Mom, thank you for letting me skip doing my homework until the last day.

Thanks for ratting me out, kid. Thanks a lot.