Larry:

An excellent card! Much food for thought!

I agree that minority members are more skilled at surviving in a majority culture than majority members are in dealing with minority culture. I agree that men are usually comfortable dealing with men and women with women, and that men often find it difficult to maneuver in a woman's world.

But I don't agree that women find it easy to deal with men. Although many women are more articulate than men and this surely helps on the surface, I think deep down that women suffer just as much as men do from the different "cultures."

The problem comes in assigning women to a minority culture. Although we live in a male-dominated society, men and women need each other in ways other opposing cultural groups do not, and as a result neither culture eclipses the other. Both worlds play a vital role in our daily affairs and both sexes find themselves in "enemy territory" every day. I therefore hold to my position that our topic is NOT a black and white issue after all.

I have another question for you. Can you tell us anything about sex in the classroom?

Hmmm. Perhaps I should rephrase that. With all the reading you do in educational research, I just wonder what your feelings are about sex differences at school, how much is nature and how much nurture, the different ways we train boys and girls, and such like.