Blue-collar men in rich countries are in trouble. They must learn to adapt

富裕国家的蓝领阶层身处困境。他们必须学习去适应。

May 30th 2015 | The Economist

摘自网络

Tinker, tailor, soldier, hairdresser

锅匠,裁缝,士兵,美发师

What can be done? Part of the solution lies in a change in cultural attitudes. Over the past generation, middle-class men have learned that they need to help with child care, and have changed their behaviour. Working-class men need to catch up. Women have learned that they can be surgeons and physicists without losing their femininity. Men need to understand that traditional manual jobs are not coming back, and that they can be nurses or hairdressers without losing their masculinity.

怎么办？答案部分在于文化态度的转变。在过去一代人的时间中，中产阶层的男性已经懂得，他们需要在照顾孩子方面出一把力，而且已经改变了他们的行为。工薪阶层的男性需要赶上来。女性已经懂得，她们可以在不失去女性特点的情况下，成为外科医生和物理学家。男性需要懂得，靠力气吃饭的传统工作正在一去不复返，他们可以不失去男性阳刚的情况下成为护士或者美发师。

Policymakers also need to lend a hand, because foolish laws are making the problem worse. America reduces the supply of marriageable men by locking up millions of young males for non-violent offences and then making it hard for them to find work when they get out (in Georgia, for example, felons are barred from feeding pigs, fighting fires or working in funeral homes). A number of rich countries discourage poor people from marrying or cohabiting by cutting their benefits if they do.

政策制定者也需要伸出援手，因为愚蠢的政策正使问题恶化。美国适婚男性的供给减少，是因为他们将数百万仅犯有非暴力罪行的年轻男性关进了监狱，之后又让他们在出狱时难以找到工作（例如，在佐治亚州，重罪犯是被禁止从事生猪饲养、消防灭火等工作，或者在殡仪馆服务的）所致。许多富裕国家都在利用结婚或同居就减少福利的方式，打消穷人结婚或者同居的念头。

Even more important than scrapping foolish policies is retooling the educational system, which was designed in an age when most men worked with their muscles. Politicians need to recognise that boys underachievement is a serious problem, and set about fixing it. Some sensible policies that are good for everybody are particularly good for boys. Early-childhood education provides boys with more structure and a better chance of developing verbal and social skills. Countries with successful vocational systems such as Germany have done a better job than Anglo-Saxon countries of motivating non-academic boys and guiding them into jobs, but policymakers need to reinvent vocational education for an age when trainees are more likely to get jobs in hospitals than factories.

比取消愚蠢政策更为重要的是重塑这个在大多数人还在凭力气吃饭的时代被设计出来的教育体系。政客需要认识到，男孩学习成绩差是一个严重的问题，并要着手去解决它。对所有人都有好处的一些合理政策对男孩尤其有好处。儿童时期早期的教育能够给男孩提供更多的结构和更好的开发语言和社交技能的机会。在激励不走学术道路的男孩和指导他们就业方面，拥有成功职业教育体系的国家，如德国，要比讲英语的国家做得更好。但是，政策制定者需要为了这个受训者更有可能得到一份在医院的工作而不是在工厂的工作的时代，重塑现在的职业教育体系。

More generally, schools need to become more boy-friendly. They should recognise that boys like to rush around more than girls do: it's better to give them lots of organised sports and energy-eating games than to dose them with Ritalin or tell them off for fidgeting. They need to provide more male role models: employing more male teachers in primary schools will both supply boys with a male to whom they can relate and demonstrate that men can be teachers as well as firefighters.

更为一般的是，学校需要变得对男孩更加友好。他们应当认识到，男孩比女孩更喜欢四处乱跑：给他们提供大量的有组织的体育活动和能消耗他们活力的游戏，胜于给他们开出利他林，或者是因为做小动作而训斥他们。学校需要提供更多的男性角色榜样：在小学中雇佣更多的男性教师，既可以给男孩们提供能够与其沟通的男性，还能够表明男性既可以当消防队员也可以成为老师。

The growing equality of the sexes is one of the biggest achievements of the post-war era: people have greater opportunities than ever before to achieve their ambitions regardless of their gender. But some men have failed to cope with this new world. It is time to give them a hand.

两性的日渐平等是战后时代最伟大的成就之一：人们拥有比以前任何时候都要大的机会去实现自己的抱负，而不考虑自己的性别。但是，有些男性一直没能适应这个新世界。该是帮他们一把的时候了。

From the print edition: Leaders