Fred Reed
Fred Reed is a very interesting columnist. He writes about very controversial topics, and has strong opinions on them. In his writing, he sometimes comes off as rude, and insults anyone who doesn’t share the same opinion as him. He’s very close minded, and often generalizes groups of people.
In one of his columns, “Valentines,” Reed says that women need to be removed from schooling. He believes that female teachers are “feminising,” or to make one have feminine attributes, boys in the classroom. He says, ” they have turned normal boyish behavior, such as enjoyment of rough-housing, into psychiatric “personality disorders.” They are doping boys up, forcing them into behavior utterly alien to them, and sending them to psychiatrists if they don´t conform to standards of behavior suited to girls.”
Do you believe what Reed said is true? That female teachers are taking what was once viewed as ‘normal boy behavior,’ and are now calling it personality disorders? Or do you believe that the gender of the teacher has no affect on a student?
Also, do you believe that his somewhat insulting way of writing is an effective way to get his point and views across to the reader?
I don’t believe what Fred Reed said was true. “Normal boy behavior” should not be a term. The gender of a person should not be a guild line for what he/ she should be like. I believe that the gender of a teacher does not affect the student. His way of writing does not get his point across very well. You are only focusing on him being rude and not the actual point.
I do not agree that women teachers should be taken out of schooling. It is gender discriminatory and pointless. Women are equal to men and if only male teachers existed then the argument of what would happen to girl students would arise. Girls would be “turned into tomboys” if you follow the logic of his argument. Also “boyish rough housing” is not being considered a psychiatric personality disorder. What is being considered such is the all out assault of other students. I do not believe the gender of a teacher affects a student. Even if it did, there is truly no way to fix the issue. One gender teacher would affect the opposite gender student.
No. Women should not be taking out of schooling. They have all boy schools for that. Female teacher have not taken “boyish behavior” and deemed them as personality disorders. The same has been said for girls. No one has a hierarchy than anyone else. He is a rude, biased and ignorant man and should really open his mind to all possibilities the world has to offer.
I believe that the gender of either person, the teacher and the student, does not effect the behavioral problems that may come about. It all depends on the individual and their maturity level which doesn’t have much to do with the gender of the student or teacher. Women should not be removed from schooling because of this because the same thing can happen with boys it’s just that particular person personality. Also, Fred Reed has a somewhat insulting style of writing I do not believe this is effective because people are focused on how ignorant he is being and it makes them want to disagree just because of how up front and rude he is and they may not actually read to get information about the issue.
I don’t believe at all what Fred Reed is true. Yes, people do think that more boys, and girls, have personality disorders if they don’t act a certain way but i don’t think that it’s female teachers faults. I think it’s society in general and how people think that little boys and girls should have to act grown up from the time they are three or so. I don’t think the gender of a teacher has any effect on the student, unless the teacher makes their kids believe in their opinions all the time. Yes, I think that the way he writes is a very effective way to get his point across to his readers. It makes you think of his side, but I think he doesn’t realize is that he offends most of his viewers. Women are not the cause of boys not having “enjoyment of rough-housing” anymore. I think it’s society’s fault.
No, I do not believe that what Reed says is true. I think that he is closed-minded and sexist, and he wants to continue the “boys will be boys” excuse for men being violent and oppressive towards women. The idea that boys and men are naturally violent, that they are always going to fight with each other and pick on girls to show that they like them, and make girls always have to be cautious around boys and not get them angry, is very unhealthy for both boys and girls. It teaches boys to not express their emotions healthily, and that lashing out with violence is an acceptable way to vent their feelings and frustrations. This kind of attitude is unhealthy for boys and downright dangerous to girls, breeding a toxic environment where they are scared of violence from men from a very young age. The fact that Reed thinks this is a good thing, and wants it to continue, is very revealing of his attitude towards women. Though I do agree that it’s not a proper solution to just fill these boys full of medication to calm them down, just letting things continue the way they are now should not even be an option. We should teach boys how to express their emotions healthily and deal with their frustrations and worries without resorting to violence. Doing so would not be “feminising” boys, as Reed says, but rather allowing them to be healthy, well-adjusted human being without the personality disorders that Reed would have us believe are “normal boy behavior.”
Furthermore, I do not believe that Reed’s somewhat insulting way of writing is effective at getting his point across to the reader. It might work on people who agree with his ideals, since it would be insulting people that they too do not like and probably also insult regularly. However, if you already don’t agree with his ideals or find them offensive, it will only make you more upset with him and make him even less likeable, so then you will have pretty much no chance of agreeing with what he has to say, so his tactic for convincing you will have quite to opposite effect.
I definitely disagree with Reed. No teacher should just say let boys be boys. I don’t think girls or boys should be able to get away with behavioral problems. Even if there are more students being diagnosed with personality disorders it doesn’t mean it’s the teachers fault. It may be because teachers know what to look for now. I don’t believe the gender of a teacher or a student has anything to do with the amount of personality disorders are noticed. Just because there is a female teacher doesn’t mean they treat boys and girls differently. A male teacher could just as well report personality disorders on boys and girls. I don’t believe that having an insulting way of writing will help get the point across. It may just make the readers angry and they could just stop reading.
What Reed said is most definitely not true. A teacher can not choose a students actions. I believe that the gender of the teacher does not affect the students behavior. Reed does not get his point across. He is being sexist saying that females should not be allowed to teach.