BOYS' EDUCATION

The recent riots in the UK make us ask questions. Could it happen here? What disturbances do we have on the street? And what can schools and parents do to stop them? Kids are huge consumers of TV, movies and video games. They mirror much of that behaviour when they go on the street. More and more Australian schools are worried about kids in trouble on the street, though they are reluctant to admit it. Schools call in professionals to help keep kids out of trouble. One such is

So much has been written about Tiger Woods that any sane person is daunted by the task. Google tells the story: If Tiger Googled himself, he could read about himself all day for weeks. There are millions of entries for Tiger Woods jokes; millions for the Tiger Woods affair. And Tiger Woods’ women. There is a Tiger website and so on. You can even check out Tiger Woods on Facebook and ask Tiger “who he is rooting for”… Let’s leave that one, and its Australian slang meaning, al

Chris Lilley’s new show ANGRY BOYS was the most popular show on ABC TV so far this year. It’s being hailed as outrageous, in-your-face, and a work of genius. Some are finding it too confronting, or perhaps unfunny. It also points us to a twofold story about boys and men. On one hand we have the angry boys that Lilley portrays. They are rude, obnoxious, detest authority and seem addicted to the F-word. Everything they don’t like is “gay” and anyone they don’t like is “faggot”.

1. TALK LESS. Boys are not terribly good listeners. Cut the words you use down to the absolute minimum. Get boys active early in the lesson. Avoid a long preamble. 2. GET BOYS DOING. Focus on – what will boys DO in this lesson? Most males are focused on action. It comes partly from their biology. And partly from what we expect of boys. 3. USE HUMOUR Use a joke now and then. It really helps to get boys onside and it discourages trouble from appearing because they are bored.

Originally published – www.researchgate.net University of Technology Sydney INTRODUCTION In a brief visit to Stockholm earlier this year, I happened to find a Nazi military officer’s hat in an antique store. It bore the sign of the swastika and a death’s head – the emblem of the SS, I am told. It made me think about why the Nazi regime was really so evil. Among all the horrors of arbitrary arrest, the singling out of gays, Jews, trade unionists and troublemakers of all kinds,

We all love our Dad. Such a statement would have been trite fifty years ago. Boys grew up expecting to become a father, breadwinner, head of the family and husband of a loving wife. Our kids would look up to us and people would respect us. That’s how it was in those years before about 1970. I base this on my own family experience, and work I did for a book on Australian men, Fathers, Sons and Lovers. Today almost any statement about family becomes controversial. Families are

How do Australia's men get healthier? The answer to all such questions seems to start with better information. Or, if you like, better education. Males would look in vain for much useful stuff in the mainstream media. Yes, Australian Ninja Warrior was a great success, by all accounts. It rated its socks off. And maybe it encouraged males to get out and exercise. Younger males (anything from four up to about forty four) and even some guys in their seventies found it thrilling.

Kids want their dads to spend more time with them, research reported in the UK journal Daddilife.com says. My research, and that of others, emphasises the vital importance of dads for kids' intellectual growth, maturity and balanced development. And that goes for girls as well as boys. So here's the million-dollar question: If kids want dads to give them more time, why can't dads do so? A couple of answers jump out. First, fathers spend more time at paid work than mothers. Ne

God gives little girls a special gift - this is how Dad thinks, and this is how I can get him to listen. But what about if it's a son? Boys feel they can't plead and turn on the water-works. It comes out as: "I need to borrow the car"…"My mates are going to the footy, Dad- I have to go too". Do women understand men? Research by Brizendine says that men and women have a deep misunderstanding of the biological and social instincts that drive the other sex: As women, we may love

We often hear about changes in the gender landscape. Women are breaking down barriers. Girls are crowding into universities, and in the UK a new report says the family is changing. Still, there's a dramatic story that's hardly been told. Fatherhood is being transformed. But how? Traditional fatherhood. Up to about the late 1960s, work was seen as done by men. Nearly all men were breadwinners. They worked hard, long hours, six days a week. Mother stayed in the home to cook, cl