Outline of Angier’s Intolerance of Boyish Behavior

I. Presents Subject

A. Used to be that “boys will be boys” was all you needed to know about boy behavior (para 1))

B. Example from Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (para 2)

C. But, now the world is not safe for boys. People now see their boyishness symptoms of a medical syndrome.(para 3) Offers support

1. Conduct disorder

2. ADHD

3. Dyslexia or learning disorder

D. Example from Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer (para 4)

E. Offers counter argument: (para 5)

1. Kids do have genuine problems and do benefit from treatment

2. Psychiatrists work hard to distinguish real problems from rambunctious kids

3. Kids with problems who are left untreated can be at risk for lots of other problems later: drug addiction, shiftlessness, underemployment, and criminality.

F. Offers another counter argument: (para 6 and 7)

1. Boys are being diagnosed in record numbers. Offers support

a. adhd stats

b. dyslexia stats

c. conduct disorder

2. Traits that will get you diagnosed, are boy associated – aggression, restlessness, loudmouthedness

3. Quotes John Ratey – psychiatrist at Harvard – about boyishness – as support

G. Offers another counter argument: Boys’ brains may be more vulnerable biologically (para 8)

H. Transition to causes for our intolerance of boyish behavior (para 9 and 10)

1. Boys in other countries aren’t diagnosed in such large numbers

2. Quotes Paul R. McHugh – director of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as support

II. List of causes for our distrust of boyish behavior

A. Reason 1) Americans have an obsessive fear of crime (para 11). We pick on boys because – following offered as support

1. Males under 21 have a difficult time controlling aggression

2. Violent crime rate steepest among youth

3. Everybody owns a gun. This ups the stakes

B. Reason 2) Current School System (para 12) for support she offers the following:

1. more group oriented, therefore penalizing boyish independence

2. not enough recess time to burn off energy and boys are need this more than girls biologically

C. Begins conclusion (para 13 and 14) by referring to Huck and Tom again

1. Quotes Charlotte Tomaino, clinical neurophychologist, who says that the jobs we have these days require people to sit still. People who can’t do it are considered “problems”

2. Used to be that you could “head west” or “light out for the territories” if you didn’t fit in. Not so any more. World’s changing economy will beat up Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn