The Center of Inquiry is hosting a "Brown Bag Lunch Series" to encourage ongoing campus discussion about the liberal arts. We invite all Wabash faculty and staff to these weekly lunch conversations.
Mark Brouwer, Lilly Teaching Fellow and visiting instructor of philosophy, is coordinating and facilitating the discussions. Topics are generally concerned with the liberal arts, and teaching and learning at Wabash College. The general model of the conversations is shared inquiry into what we do and why we do it, centered around a specific topic or reading. The topic for fall 2007 is "Men's Education at Wabash College."
We meet every Wednesday during the semester, from 12:15 to 1:00 p.m. Please bring your lunch, ideas, and spirit of collegial exchange to Trippet Hall, Isaac C. Elston, Jr. Board Room (room 325). This fall, we will read works by Dr. Leonard Sax—the final chapter of Why Gender Matters (Doubleday, 2005): "Beyond Pink and Blue (available on Blackboard under Documents) and his most recent book, Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men (Basic Books, 2007). Dr. Sax will be visiting Wabash on November 5th and 6th.
The motivation for reading Dr. Sax is to discuss men's education at Wabash College. As always, diversity of opinion is expected and encouraged. If you can attend all or some of these discussions, contact Mark Brouwer for a free copy of Boys Adrift.
"Paradoxically, the ostensibly gender-neutral child-raising and educating of the past twenty years has had the effect of pushing girls and boys into pink and blue cubbyholes. Boys have withdrawn en masse from subjects such as art, dance, and foreign languages. Girls' participation in physics and computer science peaked twenty years ago and has been declining ever since. Art, music, dance, drama, and foreign languages have become largely the provinces of girls and feminized boys (as discussed in the previous chapter). How can we break down those gender stereotypes? I suggest that the solution is first of all to recognize the differences in how girls and boys develop, and second to embrace gender-separate educational and sports opportunities for both." (Sax 2005, 241–2)
Schedule of Readings
August 29 – Chapter Ten of Why Gender Matters: "Beyond Pink and Blue" (available on Blackboard)
September 5 – Article from Time Magazine, July 26, 2007: "The Myth About Boys"
September 12 – Boy's Adrift, Chapter 1, The Riddle
September 19 – Boy's Adrift, Chapter 2, The First Factor: Changes at School
September 26 – Boy's Adrift, Chapter 3, The Second Factor: Video Games
October 3 – Boy's Adrift, Chapter 4, The Third Factor: Medications for ADHD
October 10 – Boy's Adrift, Chapter 5, The Fourth Factor: Endocrine Disruptors
October 17 – Boy's Adrift, Chapter 6, The Result: Failure to Launch
October 24 – Boy's Adrift, Chapter 7, The Fifth Factor: The Revenge of the Forsaken Gods
October 31 – Boy's Adrift, Chapter 8: Detox
Contact
Mark Brouwer with any questions, comments, or suggestions.