In 1972, the US passed a landmark piece of legislation. The new law was called Title IX, and it expanded economic and educational opportunities for women, especially in higher education. Back then, there was a 16-percentage-point gap in the awarding of college degrees in favor of men. Within a decade, women had caught up and then just blew right past the men.
1972 年, 美國通過了一項 具有里程碑意義的立法。 這項法律被稱為第九條款, 它擴大了女性的經濟和教育機會, 尤其是在高等教育領域。 當時,在取得大學學位方面, 男性有 16 個百分點的優勢差距。 十年之內, 女性迎頭趕上, 然後又一舉超越了男性。
Today, there's an 18-percentage-point gap in the awarding of college degrees. So there's a bigger gender gap today, in US higher education, than there was 50 years ago when Title IX was passed. It's just the other way around.
如今,大學學位的授予 存在 18 個百分點的差距。 因此,與 50 年前 第九條款通過時相比, 現在美國高等教育中的性別差距更大, 只是優劣完全翻轉。
I study inequality for a living, and for most of my career, I focused on the divides of class and race. But in recent years, I've just been noticing more and more gender gaps and not in the direction that I was expecting. Probably like most of you, I’m used to thinking about gender equality and the goal of gender equality as synonymous with the advancement of women and girls. But it's now clear that there are many boys and men who've fallen behind and that we have to be able to think about gender inequality in both directions. One thing that makes that hard is that the changes have been so quick, so rapid, that it's hard to update our beliefs to match the new facts. It's a bit like the needles on a compass swinging round. Suddenly north is south and south is north. It's really quite disorienting.
我以從事不平等研究為生, 它佔據我大部分的職涯。 我關注的是階級和種族之間的分歧。 但近年來, 我注意到性別差距越來越大, 而且並非朝著我預期的方向發展。 可能和大多數人一樣, 我習慣將性別平等及其目標 同等於提高婦女和女孩地位。 但很明顯地,現今 許多男孩和男人已經落後, 我們必須同時從兩個方向 考量性別不平等。 這不容易,因為變化來得如此之快, 導致我們很難與時俱進,改變想法。 這有點像指南針上突然變換方向, 北變成南,南變成北, 令人感到暈頭轉向。
But it's clear that on some measures at least now men are lagging quite a way behind, not least on college campuses. And that reflects the fact that boys are trailing girls throughout the education system. Two thirds of the top academic performers in high school, measured by GPA, are girls. And two thirds of those at the bottom are boys.
但很明顯,至少在某些方面, 男性現在遠遠落後, 特別是在大學校園。 這反映出男孩在整個教育體系中 落後於女孩的事實。 以成績平均績點(GPA)來看, 高中學業表現最好的學生, 三分之二是女生。 而後段的學生,男孩佔三分之二。
It's not just in the US. If we look at the 20 most economically advanced countries in the world, there's on average a 13-percentage-point gap in the share of young men and young women with a college degree, with young women much more likely to have a college degree. And in some nations, the gap is much bigger. In Norway, for example, there's almost a 20-point gap.
這不只發生在美國。 如果我們看看世界上 經濟最發達的 20 個國家, 平均而言,年輕男性和年輕女性 獲得大學學位的比例 存在 13 個百分點的差距, 其中年輕女性擁有大學學位的 可能性要大得多。 在某些國家,這個差距更大。 例如,在挪威, 差距幾乎達到 20 個百分點。
And just like in the US, these differences at the college level reflect what's happening earlier in the school system. It used to be that maybe boys were ahead in math and science, girls were ahead in reading and language in roughly equal measure. That's not true today. Internationally, at the age of 15, there's a five-point gap in favor of boys and math. There's essentially no gap in science, a slight gap in favor of girls actually in science. But boys are 30 points behind girls at the age of 15 in reading and language skills.
跟美國一樣, 這些在大學階段的差異 反映了學校體制中早期的情況。 過去男孩可能在數學 和科學方面稍稍領先, 女孩在閱讀和語言方面稍稍領先, 兩者差距大致相等。 但現在情況不復如此。 在國際上,15 歲時, 男孩在數學方面相對優勢 有五個百分點的差距。 在科學方面幾乎沒有差距, 實際上在科學方面,女孩稍稍領先。 但 15 歲時,男孩在閱讀 和語言技能方面 落後女孩 30 個百分點。
But not all boys and men are struggling in the same way. The intersection of gender with class and race really matters here. So boys from poorer households and middle-class households, much less likely to attend college than girls from the same background. But there's a much smaller gap at the top of the economic ladder. I think one of the reasons that elites can sometimes struggle to grasp what's going on with boys and men is that the gender gaps are just much less stark in affluent communities.
但並不是所有的男孩和男性 都面臨相同的困境。 性別與階級和種族因素的交織 在這裡影響重大。 因此,來自貧困家庭 和中產階級家庭的男孩 比來自相同背景的女孩 上大學的可能性要小得多。 而在經濟階梯的頂端,差距就小得多。 我認為,菁英們有時難以理解 男孩和男性困境的原因之一是, 富裕社區中的性別差距並不那麼明顯。
And the gender gaps are even more stark for Black Americans. For every Black man getting a college degree, there are two Black women. So anybody who really cares about boys and men has to care about racial injustice and economic inequality. And anybody who really cares about racial injustice and economic inequality has to care about boys and men.
對於美國黑人來說,性別差距更為明顯。 每一位獲得大學學位的黑人男性, 相對就有兩名黑人女性。 因此,任何真正關心男孩和男性的人 都必須關注種族不公正和經濟不平等。 任何真正關注種族不公正 和經濟不平等的人 都必須關心男孩和男性。
Now, the fact that the education system doesn't seem to be working very well for lots of boys and men is obviously not intentional. There wasn't a feminist conspiracy 100 years ago to say, "Well, it might take a century, but eventually we'll overtake them."
現在,教育系統似乎對很多男孩 和男性來說效果不佳, 這顯然不是故意如此。 一百年前,女權主義並沒有陰謀說: 「好吧,這可能需要一個世紀, 但最終我們會超越他們。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Especially as it was men who mostly designed the school system. What’s happened is that as the artificial and sexist barriers that were placed in front of women and girls have been successively removed, so their natural advantages in the classroom have been revealed.
尤其,學校體系主要是由男性設計的。 事實是,隨著擋在婦女和女孩面前的 性別歧視的人為障礙逐漸被消除, 她們在課堂上的天然優勢 也漸漸顯現出來。
Compared to girls, boys face two big structural disadvantages in education. First, their brains simply develop later. The skills of planning, organization and impulse control are associated with the prefrontal cortex, which develops in adolescence especially. But about a year later, on average, for boys than for girls. So there's a significant difference there in the timing of brain development. Social scientists refer to those skills, planning, organization, etcetera, as non-cognitive skills. I like to think of them as "chemistry homework" skills. You know, doing your chemistry homework requires a lot of steps. You have to be paying attention in class when the assignment is given. You have to make a note of it. You have to remember hours later that you're supposed to do it. You have to actually sit down and do it, instead of something more enticing instead. And remember, it's chemistry homework, so that's everything.
與女孩相比, 男孩在教育上面臨兩大結構性劣勢。 首先,他們的大腦發育較晚。 計劃、組織和衝動控制等技能 與前額葉皮質有關, 而這部分特別是在青春期發育, 但男孩的發育比女孩平均晚約一年。 因此,大腦發育的時間有顯著的差異。 社會科學家將計劃、組織等技能 稱為非認知技能。 我喜歡把它們稱為「化學功課」技能。 要完成化學功課有很多步驟。 在老師派發作業時,你必須專心聽講。 你得把作業記下來。 幾個小時後,你還要記得 你應該做這個作業。 你必須實際坐下來去做, 而不是去做一些更好玩的事。 請記住,這是化學作業, 所以包羅萬象。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Sorry, I know there are some chemists here, I'm sorry.
對不起,我知道這裡 有些化學家,對不起。
And then turn it in. That's a lot of steps, right? That's a lot. Getting your homework done requires your impulse control to match what psychologists refer to as sensation seeking. Basically, that urge to go and do something more fun, more exciting. And even in the most difficult years of adolescence, which are also the crucial years for educational success, girls have a reasonable balance between impulse control and sensation seeking. But it's a very different story for adolescent boys. They have higher levels of sensation seeking. And with that less developed prefrontal cortex, they have significantly lower levels of impulse control. Again, on average. Now if you still don't believe me, go into any ninth or 10th grade classroom and ask all the students to open up their backpacks.
然後,要把作業交出去。 步驟很多,對吧? 好多啊。 完成功課需要你控制好自己的衝動, 以對抗心理學家所說的 「感官刺激尋求」, 那種想去做更有趣、刺激的事的衝動。 即使在青春期最煎熬的歲月, 也是學業成功至關重要的歲月, 女孩在衝動控制和尋求感官刺激之間 保持了合理的平衡。 但對於青春期男孩來說, 情況卻截然不同。 他們更渴望感官刺激。 而且由於前額葉皮質發育不完全, 他們的衝動控制能力明顯較低。 再次強調,這是平均而言。 如果你還不相信我, 就去任何一個國三或高一的教室, 請所有學生打開他們的書包。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Most, many, at least of the girls, will have pretty carefully organized, nicely labeled binders. And for many, if not most of the boys, it will resemble a small, controlled explosion.
多數的女孩會有整齊有序、 標記清晰的文件夾。 而對於許多男孩來說, 就算不是大多數, 他們的書包就像一場小型受控爆炸。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
It's not that girls are smarter than boys. There's no gender gap in intelligence levels in either direction. It is just that girls develop more of these non-cognitive skills, these "chemistry homework" skills, somewhat earlier than boys do. That's just a fact. But it is a fact that we ignore in education policy.
並不是說女孩比男孩聰明。 在智商方面, 男女之間沒有性別差距。 只是女孩比男孩稍早一些 發展這些非認知技能, 這些「化學功課」技能。 這是事實。 但在教育政策中, 我們忽視了這個事實。
The second big structural problem that boys face in the classroom is the lack of male teachers. After falling for decades, the share of K-12 teachers who are male in the US is now just 23 percent. And falling. And the lack of male teachers matters for at least three reasons. First, for many children, [they] can be an important male role model, especially if they don't have one at home. And second, male teachers appear to be more sensitive to the specific challenges of boys in the classroom. I can vividly remember my own experience. I can actually still feel what it was like to sit for what felt like hours on end on an incredibly hard plastic chair, and that it was actually a male primary school teacher, Mr. Cole, who gave us more opportunities to move around, made the lessons a little bit more interactive. And the third reason male teachers may matter is there's some evidence that, especially in subjects like English, which is where the boys have fallen so far behind, having a male teacher seems to dispel the idea that reading and writing just aren't for me or for people like me. In a similar way to how having a female teacher has historically helped girls in STEM subjects. Right now, in too many of our schools, our boys feel like square pegs being forced into round holes. And too often our response is to try and fix the boys rather than fix the schools. The problems of boys are turned into problems with boys. If they struggle to sit still or pay attention or apply themselves to a task, they may be diagnosed with some kind of disability. Their problems are thus medicalized and often medicated.
男孩在課堂上面臨的 第二大結構性問題是缺乏男教師。 美國國小到高中男性教師的佔比 已持續減少好幾十年, 現在只有 23%, 且還在下降。 男性教師的缺乏 至少在三個方面有重大影響, 首先,對於許多孩子來說, 男性教師能成為重要的男性榜樣, 特別是家中沒有男性榜樣的孩子。 其次,男教師似乎對男孩在課堂上 面臨的具體挑戰較為敏感。 我對自己的經歷記憶猶新。 事實上,我仍能體會連續幾個小時 坐在一把極硬的塑膠椅子上的感覺, 還好是一位男性小學教師科爾先生 給了我們更多的機會走動, 讓課程更具互動性。 男老師很重要的第三個原因是 有些證據顯示, 特別是在英語等 男孩們遠遠落後的科目上, 男性教師似乎能消除 「閱讀和寫作只適合其他人, 不適合我們」的觀念, 就像女性教師在 STEM 科目上 (科學、科技、工程、數學) 對女孩的幫助。 現在,在太多的學校裡, 男孩感覺就像方釘 被強行塞進圓孔,格格不入。 而我們的反應往往是試圖矯正男孩 而不是修正學校。 男孩的困境讓男孩變成了問題學生。 如果他們難以安靜坐好、聽課 或專注於任務, 他們就可能被診斷有某種障礙。 因此,男孩成為醫療問題, 且大多接受藥物治療。
In the US today, 23 percent of school-age boys have been diagnosed with some form of developmental disability. Twice the rate for girls. ADHD, as you might expect, is the most common. But really, when one in four of our boys has a developmental disability, it seems clear to me that it is the system which is disabling rather than the boys who are disabled.
如今,在美國,23% 的學齡男孩 被診斷出某種發展障礙, 是女孩的兩倍。 如你所料,注意力不足過動症 (ADHD)是最常見的一種。 但實際上, 當我了解到四分之一的男孩有發展障礙, 我認為,明顯是系統使他們失去能力, 而不是男孩本身有問題。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Now, there's a lot we can do to make the education system work better for boys. Let's start with those two big problems, of later brain development and lack of male teachers. So first, we should start boys in school a year later. And the idea there is to level the playing field, given those differences in the timing of brain development. And actually that's already quite common practice at private schools and in lots of affluent communities, but it's actually not the boys from rich families who will benefit the most from that extra year. It's the boys from lower-income, poorer neighborhoods and families who would most benefit from the gift of extra time for development. And that's why I think this should be a question of public policy.
現在,我們可以做很多事情, 使教育體系更能幫助男孩。 讓我們從這兩個主要問題著手: 大腦發育較晚和男性教師短缺。 首先,我們應該讓男孩晚一年入學。 我們要考慮到 大腦發育時間的差異, 並且創造公平的競爭環境。 其實在私立學校和許多富裕社區, 這已經是相當普遍的做法, 但從這額外一年中真正受益最多的 並不是來自富裕家庭的男孩, 而是來自低收入、 貧困社區和家庭的男孩, 他們最需要額外的發展時間。 這就是為什麼我認為 這應該當公共政策來看待。
Second, we need to recruit hundreds of thousands more male teachers, especially in subjects like English, where the boys are struggling so much and which is the subject men are least likely to be teaching. And here I think we can draw some really good lessons from the successful movement to get more women and girls interested in STEM subjects. So that means setting clear targets, launching public campaigns and offering financial scholarships to men who want to enter teaching as a profession. Of course, those are changes that will take time. Those are long-term changes. And there are millions of boys and men who are struggling right now. And so if you're a parent or a teacher working with a boy or a young man who's in difficulty right now, my message to you is, first, be careful not to even inadvertently judge him against a female standard or blame him if he's struggling in a system that just might not be working very well for him. Recognize and respect the ways in which he's different. Don't say, "Why can't you be more like your sister?" Try not to even think that. It's very important that we don't treat our boys as if they were malfunctioning girls. And the second message to those people, cousins, parents, neighbors, friends, uncles, coaches, anybody working with a boy or a young man who is struggling right now, is simply, thank you. Thank you. They do need you.
其次,我們需要招募數十萬名男教師, 特別是在英語等 男孩們覺得棘手的科目, 同時也是男性最不可能教授的科目。 我認為我們可以從成功的運動中 吸取一些非常好的經驗, 像是對女性的 STEM 推廣運動。 我們可以設定明確的目標, 啟動公開宣傳活動, 並為希望從事教職的男性提供獎學金。 當然,這些改變需要時間, 這是長期的變革。 數以百萬計的男孩和男性 目前正面臨困境。 所以,如果你是家長或教師, 正在幫助一位遇到困難的男孩或青年, 我給你的建議是, 首先,小心,不要無意中 根據女性標準來評判他, 如果他在可能不適合他的體系中 苦苦掙扎,別責怪他, 了解並尊重他的不同之處。 不要說: 「你怎麼不多學學你姐姐?」 盡量不要這麼想。 非常重要的是,不要把男孩 當作有問題的女孩一樣對待。 第二點,對於那些目前 正與遇到困難的男孩或青年 一起工作的親戚、家長、鄰居、 朋友、叔叔、教練等人, 我要說,謝謝你們。 謝謝你。 他們確實需要你。
Of course, doing more for boys and men doesn't mean doing any less for women and girls. That’s like saying to the parent of a son and daughter: "You're only allowed to care about one of them." And it's the kind of zero-sum thinking that is doing so much damage to our politics and to our culture. We can think two thoughts at once. We can do two things at once.
當然, 給男孩和男性更多的幫助 不代表給女性和女孩少一點的幫助。 這就好比對有兒子和女兒的父母說: 「你只能關心他們其中一個。」 這種零和思維方式 對我們的政治和文化 造成了很大的損害。 我們可以同時思考兩種想法。 我們可以同時做兩件事。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Two thoughts at once, two things at once. That's why Norway, a country that's made huge investments, quite rightly for women and girls, but where boys and men have now fallen behind on many measures, has launched a commission for boys and men. I've talked about education today, but there are many other areas where many boys and men are struggling, including in mental health, including suicide risk. Loneliness and belonging, family life, employment. And I don't think we can afford to get this wrong. If there are real problems in a society, and responsible people don't acknowledge and address them, irresponsible people will exploit them. And that is already happening on this issue, both online and at the ballot box. We cannot leave a vacuum by neglecting this issue. The future cannot be female. Nor, of course, can the future be male. The future has to be for every single one of us, every boy and girl, we have to rise together. Thank you.
同時思考兩個想法,同時做兩件事。 這就是為什麼挪威, 為女性和女孩正確地 做出大筆投資的國家, 因男孩和男性在許多方面都落後, 已經成立了一個 關注男孩和男性的委員會。 今天我談到了教育, 但許多男孩和男性 在其他領域也遇到種種困難, 像是心理健康、自殺風險、 孤獨和歸屬感、 家庭生活和就業等等。 我認為我們承擔不起這樣的錯誤。 如果社會存在真正的問題, 該負責的人卻不承認和解決這些問題, 不負責任的人就會利用這些問題。 這些情況已經在網路和選舉上發生了。 我們不能忽視這個議題,留下死角。 未來不能只屬於女性, 當然,也不能只屬於男性。 未來必須屬於我們每個人, 每個男孩和女孩, 我們必須共同進步。 謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
(Applause ends)
(掌聲結束)
Chris Anderson: Thank you, Richard. I've got a question for you. Come this way. So you gave great advice there for the system as a whole, for teachers, for parents. But suppose you're a 14-year-old boy listening to this talk. What would you say to him?
克里斯·安德森:非常感謝,理查德。 我有個問題要問你。 請過來這邊。 你剛剛給整個體系、 教師和家長們很好的建議, 假設你是個 14 歲男孩, 聽這個演講, 你會對他說什麼?
Richard Reeves: Huh. Well, the first thing I’d say is that if you are struggling at school or in some aspects of your life, that's almost certainly not just your fault. It may be that the system is just not working for you. The second thing I would say is ... We see you. We've got you. We understand, we've got your back. And the third thing I would say is, don't follow the people who say that the reason you're struggling is because women are flourishing. Or because of feminism. Or because of changes in society. That we somehow have to, in order to lift boys up, we have to somehow push women and girls back down again. Don't fall for that. Understand that we get that you're struggling, but don't turn this into zero-sum. Don't turn to some of the darker corners of the internet where unfortunately, that is the message many of our boys are getting. But the first part that's really important, that whole conversation that we had about belonging, the wonderful difference in belonging, if our boys don't feel that they belong, that we've got them, that we see them, they're going to be much more vulnerable to those voices. So don't listen to those voices, but we need them to listen to us instead.
理查德·里夫斯:嗯, 首先,我會說,如果你在學校 或生活的某些方面遇到困難, 那幾乎完全不是你的錯。 可能是該系統不適合你。 第二件事我會說, 我們理解你。 我們會幫你。 我們明白,我們支持你。 第三件事我會說,不要聽信某些人 說你之所以遇到困難 就是因為女性蓬勃發展, 或因為女性主義、社會的變化。 說,為了要提升男孩表現, 就得打壓女性和女孩。 不要上這個當。 請你了解,我們知道你有困難, 但不要把這問題變成零和遊戲。 不要轉向網路世界的某些黑暗角落, 不幸的是,那是許多男孩 接收訊息的地方。 第一點非常重要, 我們關於歸屬感的整個對話, 歸屬感的奇妙差異在於 如果我們的孩子感覺不到歸屬感, 感覺不到我們的支持與理解, 他們就更容易受到這些聲音的影響。 所以不要聽信那些聲音, 而是我們需要他們聽我們的聲音。
CA: Thank you so much.
克里斯・安德森:非常感謝你。
(Applause)
(掌聲)