<p>Zuma--Bless you for your kindness.</p>
<p>Cangel--I don't think what you said deserves a flame. There are plenty of views about the absolute equality of the sexes that I held until I had my own son and watched him grow into the young man he is. However, there's a difference between doing what's assigned and the sort of "brown-nosing" I'm talking about. There are some teachers at my son's high school who need to get their egos stroked or their emotional lives fed by their students. That's what he won't engage in, and I support him in his refusal even though it has cost him and will continue to do so.</p>
<p>I also agree with you about their brain growth. That's not opinion-recent research supports what you're saying as well as what I've observed in my own son. Around 17, they start to settle as far as judgment and objective thought go, and boys are a bit behind girls. Too bad for those of us in the great second wave of feminism. Truth is truth.</p>