10 Comments

I'm coming to the conclusion that to ask if something is politically palatable at the federal level is to ask, "Is it good for the DC bureaucracy?"

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I don’t know enough to hold forth on what is a prudent/pragmatic policy idea for our current situation versus not. But at the very least, I want to make a practice of lending public (i.e. non-anonymous/online) support to initiatives that specifically aim to help young men. In my (university) world, it’s still a bit transgressive to voice something like that despite the frequency with which I see this discussed online. Kudos to Sen Rubio.

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I love the idea of letting high school students take the ASVAB, military testing standard. Not a few could have an egress from high school to training and work. Saves them time And us tax dollars, schools graduate far to many illiterates.

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I agree with a number of the report's recommendations, but unfortunately our society's intoxication with feminism prevents us from encouraging young men in ways that are effective and natural.

I'm old enough, for example, to remember the marines' recruitment slogan, "The Marines are looking for a few good men." Such an approach and similar ones in other fields would be remedial. Needless to say, however, appeals to manhood would immediately meet with recrimination and lawsuits. I don't know why men can't see the severe constraint that feminism poses. Until this is more widely recognized, any solution to men's problems will not accomplish much.

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Sep 7Liked by Aaron M. Renn

There is some good stuff in here, but Rubio doesn't really address the biggest challenge in getting these young men working, the average member of this group has morally decayed to a point where he has no value to a potential employer. On average, they are unreliable, dishonest and lazy. I haven't seen evidence they have high welfare usage, but I do see a lot of resumes where they have had six or more jobs in the last five years. I see the shift into negative world as a primary driver of this change. No institution is reinforcing virtue and work ethic for young men. Social pressure encourages vices like drug/alcohol abuse, gambling, etc.

Another one of his prescriptions that comes across as naive at best is adding shop classes and skilled trade classes to high schools. The best kinds of teachers for these classes are going to be unwilling to do the job because of the environment in public schools. Having to put up discipline policies that will punish the teacher far more severely than disruptive students and progressive, feminist administrators is not going to be appealing to these guys. It might be easier to attempt to divert these kids out of their current schools entirely and setup alternative high schools focused getting young men into skilled trade jobs. If he is really forward thinking and bold, they could do some significant damage to the education cartel.

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