"In four classes over three years, that gender acculturation would play out so many times one could think it staged. If two or more boys were together, they would argue over who was right. It was as if every boy lived in his own American Cassandra myth, sure that he held the truth, and ready to fight until he was victorious, despite the collateral damage.
Girls, by contrast, would most often just solve the problem. It was common to have girls suggest they try another person's design and then try theirs - a tactic I thought was based on confidence in the other's failure until (with remarkable slowness) I recognised that it was actually an efficient way to avoid an argument by giving another person voice, while simultaneously testing all solutions to find the best...
It's understandable that the manifesto's author would see things this way. Many who question diversity are rarely conscious of the homogeneity of their immediate surroundings. Our tragic Cassandra feels shamed in a monoculture populated almost entirely by the US' holy trinity: straight, white and male. It would be comically ironic, if it weren't so frustrating...
"Not one of you saw what Kristen did," I said, stupidly unaware of her discomfort. "While all of you were arguing, she built a design better than all of yours. Kristen, why did you take it apart?"
"They were arguing," she said, "so I thought their designs were better.""
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