Inspired by some of the responses to the recent post on high school boys trending conservative. In particular, I noticed that conversation outside of our community seemed to be focused and very worried about active recruiting of boys from the right. Discussion also frequently suggested that there are no such equivalent efforts or even spaces for boys that may offer a competing feminist perspective.
I worry this is a fairly backwards looking perspective on masculinity. Is an association with manual labor and sports really something we should perpetuate? This is a fairly shallow example but what about things like crafts (still constructive and not exclusionary of things like woodworking) and hiking/camping as a grass touching alternative.
Could you elaborate on that association? I don’t think I get it, especially when it comes to the shop classes (which seems to be the US equivalent of the Tech and Design classes we had where I grew up).
Woodshop is a shop class I took in junior high, and the high schools near me all have strong woodshop programs. Of course, I’m in southern Oregon, a very wood-oriented region, so there’s that. I agree more attention should be paid towards full inclusion in this and other trade-type activities and job tracks. Additionally, manual labor isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
Upon a cursory Googling, it looks like sports participation is growing, not shrinking. As a long time teacher, I haven’t noticed any significant change in sports participation in my schools.
My two cents. YMMV