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Empowering Men:
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Using Groupwork to Dominate Boys
in Schools
Peter Zohrab 2018 |
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(Open Letter to the OECD Secretary-General)
Dear Mr. Gurría,
Introduction
Together, our goal continues to be to build a stronger, cleaner and
fairer world.
That is an exceedingly vague statement, especially with respect to the words
"stronger" and "fairer". We are obviously expected to
trust your ability to decide what is "fair" in all relevant circumstances,
which is ludicrous. Given that your member countries are predominantly in
Europe, North America and Oceania and my analysis below, I
suspect that what you mean by "fair" is "whatever Feminists
want."
Whatever the standard of your other (e.g. Economics) publications may be,
the intellectual standard of documents (1) and (2) is very low. For a start,
I could mention that the title of document (1) "Girls
better than boys at working together to solve problems, finds new OECD PISA
global education survey") is not even written in idiomatic English
(The verb "finds" should be at the end). Probably the original article
was first written in a language other than English, but not translated into
English by a native-speaker of English, as it should have been.
I note that the person who wrote the Editorial to the PISA
2015 Results was Andreas
Schleicher, whose education was in Mathematics and Physics. Such an educational
background is perfectly suitable for statistical analysis, which is what PISA
(Programme for International Student Assessment) purports to be. However,
it is totally inappropriate for the educational, philosophical and political
content and undertones of the Editorial. On the other hand, I note that the
members of the PISA Governing Board in 2015 were ALL FEMALE (with the possible
exception of Dr. Sungsook Kim), according to the Foreword of the PISA
2015 Results. In other words, the obvious bias in
the Editorial, which is written by a man, is the result of the fact that the
policy had been determined by a Governing Board composed entirely, or (at
best) almost entirely, of women! This is despite the fact that the
Foreword advocates that diversity be celebrated. Since women are in charge,
they presumably consider that women are automatically "diverse'!
Although PISA 2015 Results (Volume V) purports to be about
collaborative problem solving, in fact the photograph which illustrates the
Foreword is a photograph of ONE girl doing something with a pipette and a
flask. The same photograph of ONE girl doing something with a pipette and
a flask illustrates the beginning of the Editorial. These
are the only illustrations in the seven pages which comprise the Foreword
and Editorial! This emphasis on girls by women is very much the flavour
of the substantive issues, which I turn to next.
Substantive Issues
The PISA 2015 study was the first large-scale test of how well students
collaborate with one another. The reasons given for undertaking such a study
are simplistic in the extreme. On the other hand, the Editorial states:
When PISA assessed individual problem-solving skills in 2012, boys
scored higher in most countries. By contrast, in the 2015 assessment of
collaborative problem solving, girls outperform boys in every country....
In other words, the female PISA Governing Board was
appalled when, in 2012, boys scored higher in most countries in individual
problem-solving. Therefore they introduced an assessment of collaborative
problem-solving, since boys are naturally competitive and girls are naturally
cooperative. Groups allow gregarious people (typically girls) to dominate
competitive individuals (typically boys).
The Editorial does mention the issue of group dynamics in passing, but there
is no attempt to consider whether individual problem-solving or collaborative
problem-solving produces better results. Group dynamics is a research field
in itself, as can be seen by reading books such as Group
Dynamics: The Psychology of Small Group Behavior,
by Marvin E. Shaw (2nd Edition, 1976, McGraw-Hill). Groups have structures
and people play various roles in groups. Groups are not just individuals added
together. An individual may have an excellent idea and that idea may well
be "listened to" by the group, but it is the politics of the group
which decides whether that idea is accepted or not. We have all heard the
saying that a camel is a horse designed by a committee! There is no evidence
produced to prove that people need to study in groups at school in order to
be able to function well in groups in later life.
Conclusion
Groupwork is a Feminist scam and conspiracy to cover
up female intellectual inadequacies and oppress boys. The article The
Personal is Political at http://www.carolhanisch.org/CHwritings/PIP.html
makes it clear that Feminists should strategically maintain and improve female
self-esteem. Groupwork is a tool which has been used by teachers in countries
such as New Zealand (who are predominantly female) to improve girls' academic
results and depress the academic results of boys. Th OECD seems to be doing
the same thing -- and at the expense of the taxpayers of OECD countries.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Zohrab
Summary Haiku:
Men have no rights,
but aren't less human.
We blame sexism.
See also:
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