MALE STUDENTS NEED THE ATTENTION TOO

MALE STUDENTS NEED THE ATTENTION TOO

by Domenick J. Maglio PhD., Traditional Realist

There was a time in the United States when females were not getting a fair shake. Certainly this was the case prior to WWII where the vast majority were home bound unable to further their education even when they were superior students.  During WWII there was a greater need for females in manufacturing, service industry and some career positions.

The quantum leap for females in college happened during the late 1960’s counter culture revolution/sexual revolution. Females were encouraged and recruited to enter college. Programs were established in public schools to increase awareness of college career opportunities specifically for females and in university women’s programs. These programs popped up throughout academia to be a catalyst to develop independent, not interdependent females.

Higher education for females became a major component of the diversity movement. These government social change efforts bore more fruit than anticipated. Presently approximately 60% of college students are female which leaves only 40% males.  It has been overkill skewing the composition of college campuses in favor of females.

Chelsea Clinton is promoting more female students going into the STEM programs (Science, technology, engineering and math fields). She never mentions the plight of males in our higher education system as she vigorously argues for more females to graduate in these fields. There is little discussion in the media of males being trained or retained in these traditionally male areas although men’s representation in these fields is decreasing.

In today's preschools and elementary grades boys are diagnosed with mental disorders at a rate ranging from 4-1 to 11-1 boys over girls. The high school drop out rate for boys is significantly higher. They are more likely to be suspended or expelled, commit suicide and be incarcerated. Male students are not doing as well as females in our educational system. Our schools should address the difficulties boys have to confront daily in school.

In most other countries of the world females are educationally deprived although in the United States the opposite is true. Females have successfully overcome any past barriers in higher education. Presently female’s grades in college are higher while they earn 75% of all honor degrees. Females are the majority in graduate and professional schools.  Females are usually the go-getters while the males are generally the less interested in school.

Our over social engineering correction to attract more females to higher education may at the same time be repelling males away from higher education degrees.  It is hard to deny there is a problem with recruiting and graduating male students in higher education.  Most American males no longer view college as a necessary stepping stone to their future. Others just find the process of obtaining a degree degrading, making it too high a price to pay.

In many schools of higher education even the traditional scientific curriculums have become centers of indoctrination.  Often these colleges require courses in social change that have nothing to do with essential professional knowledge needed in their field of study.  This introduction of political propaganda into higher education is more frustrating to the typical male who just wants to meet the n requirements. They are usually more objective and less sympathetic to the plight of others than their female counterparts.

It is time we turn our attention to the potentially disastrous effects of not having professionally trained males in our economy. This would adversely affect the functioning level of our families when men are unemployed or do not having the ability to make adequate salaries to support their families. Men who have menial jobs or are unemployed suffer a greater incidence of depression, suicide and cancer. These displaced males have a difficult time playing the leadership role as a fully functioning husband and father increasing the rate of divorce in these families.

The women in America are thriving in academia while men are floundering and withdrawing. Women are the recipients of government interventions including Title IX, which limits opportunities for males in sports that had been a major incentive for them to enter college. Males have even lost the benefit of the doubt in allegations of sexual charges with the changes in campus regulations and laws.

Young men deserve a level playing field in higher education. Obviously the special women’s programs for recruiting and retaining college females have more than accomplished their objectives. The United States has to reverse this trend of graduating 25% fewer males from college than women or suffer long-term economic and social consequences impacting our nation.

Discrimination against males is just as offensive and counter productive as it would be to any other group including females. The time has arrived in our society to examine and rectify the reasons why males are losing interest in attending and completing higher education.

Dr. Maglio is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

THE CHILDFREE LIFE IS JUVENILE AND SPIRITLESS

THE CHILDFREE LIFE IS JUVENILE AND SPIRITLESS

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D. Traditional Realist

The Time Magazine cover of April 12, 2013, glorifies “The Childfree Life” as the path to a happy and good life.  The idea being touted is children destroy the couple’s freedom to live the life they desire. Not having children is supposed to insure a fantastic existence.  This is a blatant attack on the institution of marriage. The dagger is openly being placed in the heart of the most important social unit for our society: the family.

The conscious decision of a couple not to have any children is not marriage it is co-habitation. There is a major difference between a couple that wants to have children and are unable to have them and a couple who has no intention to have any. Procreation is vital to a nation’s survival. Throughout the ages societies have given incentives to couples producing children, as they are the future.

Our self-absorbed culture is sending an anti traditional marriage message about the benefits of producing, raising and maintaining stable families. Citizens are delaying marriage as long as possible making the average age for marriage reach its highest level while the percentage of people getting married is at its lowest.  New fads such as making one-year contracts for people living together and “hooking up” or “friends with benefits” both terms defining casual sex with no commitment” are making a mockery of natural intimacy. Sex before marriage is embedded in our modern culture. This destructive norm is being sold to youngsters by the media at a younger and younger age.

The decision to raise a child is a game changer for a person’s life.  It is difficult for a person that is hedonistic and self-centered to function as a parent. To be a decent parent you have to learn to become more mature. People without the experience of raising their children have less opportunity to develop inner strength. Our own children teach us it is essential to be responsible and giving of oneself in the process of raising them.

This demanding process takes time and energy that many young Americans are wholeheartedly rejecting. The percentage of children born out of wedlock is perilously rising.  At the same time the fertility rate is at its lowest level in our history. In 2011 the fertility level fell 9%.  The number of couples not having children has doubled from 1970 to the present. Women make up 60% of college graduates and many of them are postponing getting married and having children for the sake of their careers.  After waiting too long before having children couples are spending incredible amounts of money in fertility clinics.

“Having it all” in this cultural context means having as much wealth as possible and children are a major drain on assets. The alleged average cost for caring for a child until age 18 is estimated at a ridiculous $234,900 according to a sociological survey.  This outrageous guestimate is an attempt to frighten away perspective parents from having children.  The cost of raising a child depends solely on the choices of a parent’s lifestyle.

In the past there was a stigma on women not getting married. They were called spinsters. Those who never had children were looked upon with pity. According to traditional culture, these females never were able to experience the joy of children.

Our modern hedonistic culture has turned this upside-down by claiming that couples that have children are overpopulating the world and polluting the environment. The childfree lifestyle is a choice with long-term consequences. Those who decide not to have children will have an extended time catering to their own wants.  Over time they usually regret the loneliness of not having any loved ones in the later years of life and death. Commitment to almost anything in our perennial teenage culture is extremely difficult. People have to be mature to delay immediate gratification for future benefits. 

Fulfilled individuals conclude parenthood is more spiritually fulfilling than pampering oneself. There is a vast majority who look forward to the blessing of child rearing. These people want to be there for the milestones of their children’s development and the joyful events that punctuate life’s journey. These parents learn that even the child’s trials and tribulations gives their children increased strength to face the future difficulties of life.

Many parents state, “my children raised me well.” When we hear our children imitate us as parents we alter our behavior to be better role models. These insights motivate us to be givers not takers. We mature into better people.

A childfree life is a sterile one. Being fixated on pleasing oneself is a selfish behavior that does nothing to stimulate spiritual growth. It leaves the individual in later years dependent on strangers. This narcissistic lifestyle for most ends in a joyless “failure to thrive” existence.

Dr. Maglio is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE IN AN ENVIABLE POSITION

PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE IN AN ENVIABLE POSITION

By Domenick J. Maglio, PhD Traditional Realist

Regardless of conventional wisdom, there are many of the same issues in private and public schools. Unruly or reluctant students, great variations in ability, demanding-second guessing parents are a fact of life in any educational facility. Some students are good in some particular academic areas while having a difficult time in others.  They come from a wide range of socio economic levels, family functioning and lifestyles.

The major difference between private and public schools is tax money. Public schools receive it while private schools pay it.  Private schools are competing against “free” public education. Private schools are financed by tuitions that are paid by the consumer.

Since private school parents pay tuition they have the ultimate power in quality control: withdrawing their child. Unlike public school they determine the status of the school. When a school does not have enough income to pay its bills, it ceases to exist or it thrives as the tuition outpaces expenditures.

In public schools there is no such objective economic mechanism. Over budgeting in one school generally results in the district shifting money from another one or receiving additional funding from the school district, raising taxes. The level of functioning of a government school is based on criteria established internally by educational bureaucrats with community cronies rubber stamping these decisions.

In district schools there is red tape that hinders many necessary changes. All tax money comes with strings attached. Government representatives act as if their power to distribute taxpayer funds gives them the right to dictate educational policies. The carrot: money, often causes arbitrary decisions that frequently change the school programs. These new programs require expensive implementation, assessments and training which is often confusing and in conflict with past policies. These continually changing approaches interfere with educational continuity. 

Besides increasing paperwork and manpower these added requirements and regulations usher in new procedures and policies that alter the school’s climate. These top-down changes with monetary inducements are almost impossible to rescind. From 1950 to 2009 these administrative mandates with minimal local input have increased administrative staff 702% with only a 252% increase in teachers while student population has risen only 96%. The addition of trillions of dollars to improve schools has not worked.

Private school proprietors are not beholding to government handouts. They invest their own blood, sweat, tears and money to work towards their dream. Their vision is driven by a mission to better education in their own unique ways.  These driven individuals learn to tweak their methods of reaching students and devise new, innovative ones while keeping focus on the quality of education not politics. Unlike dedicated public school personnel, there are no layers of bureaucratic politics to wade through before instituting any change. The private school owner has the power and dedication to do those things necessary to upgrade the school’s quality.

Proprietors of private educational facilities have the ability to be flexible, responding rapidly to needed changes. New programs, additional space and personnel can be added to meet unexpected needs. During economic downturns adjustments can be made to be more economically efficient. Owners build a team of educators through rational not political choices in hiring and firing. The non-teaching staff is held to a minimum for economic reasons allowing an over whelming number of hires to be assigned to the classroom.

Private schools are able to positively impact the whole child including character due to the years of being part of a school community where all the students, teachers and parents know each other. The continuity of instruction from year to year, effective parent-school communication, and the necessary time to train students to strengthen their initial deficits are simple measures that make a huge difference in the quality and climate of the school. This is done without labeling the student for life.  Without extreme political correctness restraints they can give natural consequences to teach student accountability.

In a free enterprise, private schools are too small to be viable targets for unionization. Being free of the shackles of union control private schools are able to keep schools in line with local economic realities, which curb inflated staff salaries. Teachers who have committed serious indiscretions are dismissed without compensation or prolonged union litigation or expensive warehousing of the perpetrator.  Most importantly of all, private schools do not have to deal with union veto power to maintain a streamlined operation.

Private schools are experimental laboratories for education. They will often appeal to different audiences according to the different ways they attempt to reach their educational goals. Each school, like each student, is unique.  Many may have the same mission although their approaches and methods will differ. Some will develop ideas that will show undeniably positive results that will often be adopted by others in the field thus improving education.

These private schools are in an enviable position as they are directed by the consumer. There are no government bailouts that can save poorly operating private schools.  Without this crutch they know they have to deliver valuable services or the consumers will put them out of business.

Dr. Maglio is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com

MAKING NOTHING OUT OF SOMETHING

MAKING NOTHING OUT OF SOMETHIING

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist

Our media often makes something out of nothing. Making something out of nothing only requires an emotional hook to connect with the audience. This is often a big part of entertainment and news.  A middle aged Hollywood star dies of a heart attack and it becomes a weeklong saga. A well-known entertainment personality had spoken with this deceased star for a few hours a month before he died. This personality is treated as if he knew him intimately. A murderer, a potential cancer cure and epidemics that never come, an airplane that narrowly misses another, a forecast that fizzles after days of constant dire predictions are a small sample of what is a daily dose of making something out of nothing.

The reverse of making nothing out of something is becoming much more prevalent and frightening. In the past people have referred to this phenomena as censorship. Today the mainstream progressive media's agenda has taken priority over searching for the truth. Anything that may contradict liberal sacred cows is ignored as not newsworthy. 

Making nothing out of something without straightforward censorship takes a much more creative thought process than telling the truth. Distortion, overt falsifying of statistics and poll results and outright lying as often and loudly as possible is used to sell the disasters as a non-issue to the public. Additionally it requires obfuscation by a large section of the media who become expert accomplices.  The winning of favors by the supposedly objective reporters requires them selling out their professional integrity to become official members of the state run media.

There is a concerted and pervasive effort by the ruling class to avoid acknowledging any information that conflict with the progressive agenda. This is currently happening with the spreading of misinformation about Obamacare, Continuing Resolution, CR, and raising the debt ceiling. Picking winners and losers on who can use the Washington Mall or will be exempt from healthcare regulations is unconstitutional on its face. The media’s non-handling of these events has magically made them non-events.

 Accomplishing the task of making nothing out of something is often an exercise in deviousness and diversion. When these tactics fail, the ace in the hole is to target and attack the messenger, a lesson stressed by Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.

The Bengazi debacle in Libya has been covered in the mainstream media almost from the beginning as an old story that is irrelevant. They have refused to demand answers to obvious voids and inconsistencies in the lead up, the seven-hour siege and its aftermath. It is being called a “phony scandal” to bury its significance. The IRS denial of profit status based on political bias the Department of Justice’s unwillingness to release vital information pertaining to border agent’s, Brian Terry’s, death in a secret federal gun running operation and the NSA recording of citizen’s phone and computer transactions have not been investigated by the media. They have also been referred to as “phony scandals.” These are disgraceful attempts at censoring very important events.

In many controversial issues we hear only one viewpoint on multi faceted situation. The increasing of sexual abuse allegations in the military is featured as only a male sexual domination of female soldiers. There is no mention of male on male sexual assaults. Most shockingly there are no accounts of the past predictions of high-ranking military experts that the rapid expansion of female soldiers in close proximity with male soldiers would naturally result in higher claims of sexual abuse.

In discussing education the decline of our public schools as compared to other nations has been mostly overlooked. The public is constantly informed about the great innovative education programs that have great promise for the future of education. Hardly anything is discussed concerning the cause of this decline even after spending trillions of dollars on education over the past 40 years.

Cultural issues like the negative psychological, physical impact of abortion on the woman and on the soul of the nation have not been topics open for discussion. The epidemic of children born outside of wedlock and the ever-increasing fatherless families where there were once two parent homes are ignored. The statistical negative effect on children, particularly Black children, and its horrific impact on society are being dismissed as inconsequential.

The negative aftermath of the 1960s counter culture revolution/sexual revolution is treated as a taboo subject by the mainstream media. It would be considered blasphemous by the progressive elites presently on both sides of the political aisle and the media to question past counter cultural predictions of improvement. The hope of equality, fairness, peace and racial harmony in our society has not approached their great expectations. They have been broken promises. The elites want the people to focus on the utopian ideals not on the actual results.

Our constitutional republic cannot function with government-controlled public relations professionals disguised as bonified reporters. Legitimate reporters should find the truth to keep the government honest and in check. By the press informing citizens of important issues that need their scrutiny citizens can make educated decisions. Americans without facts can be easily manipulated by government propaganda, which will result in the relinquishing of their power and freedom.

A free press does not make nothing out of something. It uncovers the facts reporting them to the public. Ethical representatives of the media write and say the truth, which is essential in retaining our constitutional republic.

Dr. Maglio is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

TEA PARTY IS SAVING AMERICA NOT DESTROYING IT

TEA PARTY IS SAVING AMERICA NOT DESTROYING IT

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

The Washington, D.C. political culture is intoxicating to most politicians. The republican or democrat who arrives in “the belly of the beast” quickly realizes he is in the world of the rich and powerful. These newcomers may not be wealthy when they enter congress but they are immediately confronted by seductive financial offers to join the insiders.  These representative’s loyalty switches to the ruling class ignoring the rights of the people.

The founders’ concept of the government serving the people has been the guiding light of the Tea Party movement. Tea Party members are law-abiding citizens that believe in the Constitution, limited government and the rule of law. They will not sell out their convictions. These patriots are being labeled as extremists, terrorists, homophiles, tea baggers, racists or worse by members of congress and the media.  Their sin is they have not accepted an out-of-control business-as-usual government.

They are unwilling to compromise with progressive policies, which makes them enemies of the establishment.  

Ironically many of those now in the ruling class were themselves anti establishment revolutionaries in the 1960/70s. These same radicals attempted to destroy the establishment.  Today these power elites have the audacity to disparage and viciously attack these rational, non-violent political novices.

The ruling class is beyond arrogant. They are pompous hypocrites. Congressmen and other government officials want to be able to maintain their platinum healthcare plan for life paid by the taxpayers while forcing the Obamacare debacle down our throats.  They vote themselves privileges forcing the middle class to finance their exorbitant lifestyles.  Meanwhile they graciously redistribute not their money but the taxpayer’s money to nonproductive people to create dependent voters to keep them in power.

The Tea Party members are united nationwide to put an end to corruption, wasteful spending and limiting the size and power of government to regain our freedoms as a people. This is not an agenda of radical madmen.  It is a commitment to return America to its roots with the people being in the driver’s seat instead of the citizens enslaved to a centrally controlled state.

Of course patriotic Tea Party followers are demonized by Washington elites. These smug political insiders do not want to relinquish their power to the voters.  Power and privilege are their addictions possessing them to trash the freedoms and property of the people to continue their self-serving life styles.

The three branches of government and the Fourth estate, “ the media,” are no longer performing their role as checks and balances.  They have merged into a ruling class that is blatantly ignoring the Constitution and the good of the people of the nation. They are passing laws without debating or reading them.  The president’s declaring edicts from above is curtailing our freedoms and robbing us of our property.

The establishment talks about transparency but does not practice it. The Benghazi, IRS, and NSA scandals show the administration is stonewalling congressional committees.  Other agencies besides the NSA are seizing our privacy without any concern for our legal rights. These fiascos show our so-called representatives and media are not serving the nation’s interest.

These “rulers” do not accept debate before passing legislation. Instead they corruptly buy congressional votes without any apparent guilt.  By congress not passing a budget in 4 years not only did they not debate or compromise but prevented their vote from being recorded. They did not do their Constitutional duty although they had the audacity to repeatedly propagandize to us that the Tea Party members are the ones unwilling to compromise.

For all the talk of compromise, there cannot be compromise when the ruling class is not following our Constitution and the laws of the land. We did not compromise with the brutal repression of the British Empire and we should not compromise with the progressive transforming us into a freedom-less totalitarian nation.  Their idea of compromise is for us to follow exactly what they dictate to us to do.

Patriotic Tea Party members are wrecking the status quo and thank God they are. This is a peaceful revolution. Nevertheless they are not winning favor with the media or with either political party. The media and progressive members of both political parties are attempting to delegitimize them.

Americans are learning these Tea Party members are not extremists but people who love their country and have the courage to stand up to the establishment. They are unequivocally stating that the erecting of a dependency dictatorial government must end. To save our great nation the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the rule of law have to be adhered to putting the power back in the hands of the people to save our great nation.

Dr. Maglio is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.