Why can't we help boys?

Give the Australians credit. At least they are talking about helping boys. Unfortunately, the talk hasn't progressed to action.

Making a Difference for Boys, a 31-page booklet published by the department's "Gender Equity Unit" in 2002, and promoting a "boys can do anything" approach, has never been released to schools because of a fear that focusing on boys' performance might disadvantage girls. Instead, 10,000 copies of the booklet, printed at a cost of $10,000, remain sealed in boxes. The department told Doherty the book "no longer fitted the policy of promoting the interests of boys and girls equally".

And that is the problem: the belief of some education administrators and academics that you can't improve boys' performances without disadvantaging girls. Now girls are outstripping boys, we must concentrate on equity.

As one school principal complained on ABC radio this week: "There is an extreme ideological mindset in the Board of Studies and the Department of Education which says that boys have had it too good for too long."

Why can't we discuss this in Canada? Why is this not an issue for the Conservatives?