Girls today are in trouble. They lose confidence in early adolescence. Their grades plummet, and, following sexual stereotypes, their interest in math and science flags. They are plagued by eating disorders, suffer depression, get pregnant, attempt suicide. And it all makes headlines, spawns research projects and prompts calls for single-sex education.
Boys today are in trouble too. They are locked into rigid classroom routines before they are ready; their rambunctious behavior, once thought normal, is now labeled pathological, with such diagnoses as attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity. They lose self-esteem and lag behind girls in reading and writing--erupting in violent behavior, killing...