Month: October 2018

As I was reading “The Boys at the back” by Christina Hoff Sommers I came across the word “Noncognitive” in the third paragraph of the reading piece. It is included in the context “The scholars attributed this “misalignment” to differences in “noncognitive skills”: ” According to the Merriam-webster dictionary the word “noncognitive” means not relating to or based on conscious intellectual activity or not based on or capable of being reduced to empirical factual knowledge. Basically, the word means instead of referring to an individual’s ability to process thoughts, non-cognitive skills are those attitudes, behaviors, and strategies which facilitate success in school and workplace, such as motivation, perseverance, and self-control.

According to the Merriam-Webster Chauvinism(noun) means attitude toward the opposite sex. It can be found on the last paragraph on “The Boys at the Back” by Christina Hoff Sommers. “I became a feminist in the 1970s because I did not appreciate male chauvinism”. The word chauvinism is used to show how there was an attitude toward the other sex rather than fairness playing a role in it. I understood what the author tried to imply after knowing the meaning of the word.

According to the Merriam- Webster the word meritocracy is a noun but the word used in the text is meritocratic which is an adjective. The word is defined as a system in which the talented are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement. This word can be found in the text “The boys at the back” by Sarah Rich and it says, “Universities that had been dominated by affluent white men embraced meritocratic values and diversity of gender, race, and class.” This shows that white men embrace the recognition they get from what they’ve achieved and that the universities that they go to help show that. When I first discovered this word I thought it meant that men embraced the values that they were taught by their fathers. Now that I understand this word I can use it to write out my argumentative essay.

lan•guish (verb)

Languish is to be or become feeble, weak or enervated as stated in Merriam Webster Dictionary. This word is found in the article “The Boys At The Back” by Christina Hoff Summers when it states, “A few decades ago, when we realized that girls languished behind boys in math and science, we mounted a concerted effort to give them more support, with significant success.” Now knowing the definition, it helps to better understand that the author was saying that when girls were weak in subjects like math and science, they were given help to successfully learn these things.

While I was read the boy at the back. I find the word chauvinism. “I still don’t. But the proper corrective to chauvinism is not to reverse it and practice it against males, but rather basic fairness”. when I look it up I find the definition. According to dictionary.com the word chauvinism mean zealous and aggressive patriotism or blind enthusiasm for military glory.  

According to Merriam-Webster, the word hindsight is a noun. It is defined as perception of the nature of an event after it has happened. On October 16th, I found this word in an article entitled, “Today’s Masculinity is Stifling” by Sarah Rich. On page one it states in the first paragraph, “In hindsight, our son was gearing up to wear a dress to school for quiet some time”. Originally when I read the word, I thought hindsight was referring to a flashback of the story or events and sequences. I thought the author was presenting what she was trying to say about her son being in a dress as a flashback moment for her to discuss the topic of masculinity. I thought this because the context clues were describing how he was wearing dresses from months meaning this has been progressing for some time. I understand the meaning more clearer as the author is depicting this event to explain it while it has happened. It is a perception of her son wearing dresses to school to formulate her reaction of the scenario going on.

In the article “If Black Men Want to Heal Rascism’s Wounds, We Cant Pretend to be Strong All the Time” written by Mychal Denzel Smith, the word stoicism is used to describe what is learned from masculinity. For example, “… men inherit a sense of masculinity that teaches stoicism as a virtue.” Stoicism means that pain and hardwork is felt by men and they could not show any emotion or feelings towards whatever they are doing. It is taught as a virtue becuase this is what society expects from men.

Stoic: not affected by or showing passion or feeling (adjective)

This is the meaning of the word Stoic according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary. I saw this word used in the article “What Our Sons Are Learning From Donald Trump” on October 8th, 2018. It was on paragrah 12 where it said “Many educators assume that boys are hard-wired in certain ways: to be aggressive, active, competitive, impulsive and stoic.” Boys often hide their emotions from others in fear of being called weak and being shamed. After thinking about it like that, I understood what stoic meant.

Turmoil is a very confused or disturbed state or condition, based on the Merriam-Webster. On “If Black men want to heal racism wounds, we can’t pretend to be strong all the time”, it states on pg#99, Generations of black boys and men are walking around with turmoil swelling inside them, ready to explode at any minute.” This word is the definition on how men are trapping all this feeling until the last minutes to show of all this anger, pain and sadness that they kept for so long  that are now showing in a violence way.