Boys at Risk

Every once in awhile, I am blessed to be asked to speak on the topic of "Boys at Risk." Inevitably, people assume that I am going to be talking to them about a particular group of boys - boys who live in poverty, boys with absent fathers, or boys who have fallen behind academically. Then, they wonder what the risk is. Academic? Social? Could it even be that their lives are the risk? The answer, like that on a badly written test, is "All of the Above." 

Statistically speaking, almost ALL of our boys are at risk (if you don't believe me, stay tuned), and it is so important to me that we start having a conversation about why that has happened and what we can do about it. 

This Wednesday I will be giving a brief training on "Boys at Risk" and thought it might be good to do a series of blog posts sharing the information I'll be covering. After all, almost all of us have a son, a nephew, a neighbor - a boy in our life who could use our help. 

Let's start with what the risks are that our boys are facing. I like numbers - clear cut statistics that help me make sense of things. Here are a few about boys: 

For every 100 girls age 6 to 14 diagnosed with a learning disability, 160 boys are diagnosed a learning disability. (US Census Bureau, 2006)

For every 100 females age 15 to 19 who commit suicide, 549 males in the same age range kill themselves. (CDC 2002)

For every 100 girls in correctional facilities, 879 boys are behind bars (Census.gov 2000)

Boys commit 95% of juvenile homicides. (Boys in Crisis, Paul Slocumb)

There are 133 females getting bachelor's degrees for every 100 males. (Boys in Crisis, Paul Slocumb)

61% of students held back a year are males. (US Dept of Education)

76% of students diagnosed emotionally disturbed are boys.  (US Dept of Education)

Boys represent 90% of discipline problems in the classroom and 80% of the dropouts. (Boys and Girls Learn Differently, Michael Gurian) 

Now, if you read over that really quickly because you were waiting to see what would come next or because statistics aren’t your thing, I want you to go back and read that list again. I want you to read each item and ask yourself a question:

What does the future of the United States look like if this continues? 

Next, let's look at what I wrote about how this affects all boys. A lot of commentators will take one or more of those statistics, and they will tell you that something about American culture is the ONLY relevant factor (and, of course, it just so happens to fit their own personal religious, political, or personal agenda). But that doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Why? Well for one thing...

§The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) PISA (Programme for International Assessment) Data shows boys behind girls in most developmental, behavioral, academic, and social markers in all industrialized countries. (OECD, 2015)

I want to point out a really important phrase there: all industrialized countries. To get how huge that is, you have to thing about which countries make up all industrialized countries.  Here's a snapshot from the OECD report that specifically deals with gender. 

That's not the whole graph (which was related to my technical prowess or lack thereof), but it is enough because you can see that all industrialized countries includes places like Qatar, Tunisia, and China. Those are not cultures with norms that line up to the United States. There is a BIG, WORLDWIDE problem with our boys. American culture, especially some narrow opinion word like "feminization," does not cut it as a cause.  

So, what is the cause. And - oh my Lanta - what do we do about it?  Well, there isn't a "The Cause" but there are a lot of contributing factors which, according to experts, include the following: 

Environmental Neurotoxins  Family Breakdown Gender Stereotypes Lack of Role Models Nutrition Failure to Train Teachers on Gender Based Brain Difference Failure to Inform Parents About the Past 50 Years of Brain Based Research EMPHASIS ON STEM Technology Overload  Decreased Physical Movement Explosion of Prison Population Lack of Parental Advocacy Historical Definitions of Manhood Evolution Underfunding/Serving Males in Poverty Cessation of Rights of Passage The Act-Like-A-Man Box

Yes, that is a large, scary list. Pick three and you could take the rest of your life to research just those factors. So, I am not covering those in this series. I am going to briefly look at three of them - Neurology, Lack of Role Models, and The Act-Like-a-Man Box and give you three, practical, immediately applicable strategies for helping the boys in your life deal with each issue. 

In the meantime, if you can't wait to find out more, I'm going to recommend that you rent the documentary The Mask You Live In on Netflix, YouTube, Prime, or your preferred mode of documentary viewing.