{"id":18909,"date":"2024-10-31T20:24:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T02:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=18909"},"modified":"2024-10-31T20:24:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T02:24:01","slug":"boys-men-and-unsuccessful-solutions-to-the-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2024\/10\/boys-men-and-unsuccessful-solutions-to-the-problem.html","title":{"rendered":"Boys, Men, and unsuccessful solutions to the problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/wwworks\/15344079560<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Some time ago, I wrote a number of blog posts about the troubles that boys and men were having in the U.S., that boys were struggling in school and men were struggling in the working world.\u00a0 Sadly, I mostly wrote these before I got into the practice of putting useful tags on the articles, and one of those that I can find, was before I transitions to Patheos, and the images didn\u2019t make it.\u00a0 Nonetheless, in January of 2014<\/a>, I looked at some statistics on the patterns in men\u2019s wages over time, and the key chart is below (pulled from the Blogger editor), though the original table no longer exists at the URL listed in the caption.\u00a0 Even though women\u2019s wages have been steadily growing during this time period, men\u2019s wages have been stagnant or declining, depending on how you measure it.\u00a0 And, yes, this chart is a decade old (turns out, I\u2019ve been blogging for over 10 years now!), but the trends are similar now.<\/p>\n

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men\u2019s wage trends<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Separately, in 2017, I wrote about a book<\/a> on the topic of the struggles boys are having in modern-day America, Boys Adrift<\/em>, which highlights struggles boys are having in school, with factors ranging from the ever-decreasing age at which children are expected to sit still and do \u201cseatwork,\u201d to unintended side effects of ADHD medications, to a broader \u201cdevaluation of men.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0And it sure seems to me that it was here, but it may have been elsewhere, that there was a discussion around the difficulties boys were having with a shift in the way math is taught and evaluated, that just learning the mechanics isn\u2019t enough any longer, but every problem is a \u201cword problem\u201d and boys are expected to be able to explain how they solved their problems.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to my latest library book, though sadly, it was not a \u201clibrary book\u201d in the sense that I picked it up off the shelf, but instead I had to make a request for it to be purchased; the librarians didn\u2019t seem it worthy to acquire when it first came out.<\/p>\n

Of Boys and Men<\/em>, first published in 2022, by Richard V. Reeves, tells an unfortunately too-familiar story, about the quite significant ways in which boys and men are falling behind. Boys\u2019 grades are declining relative to girls, their graduation rates are lower, they are less likely to attend college.\u00a0 While men, on average, still earn more than women, there is considerable overlap, and at the lower end of the spectrum there are substantial numbers of men who are struggling, and which means that men are more likely to be unable to be the \u201cbreadwinner\u201d in the family \u2014 which means they unable to marry in the first place because it is so rare for either men or women to consider a \u201crole reversal\u201d acceptable.\u00a0 Ethnic-minority men and poor men are struggling most of all.\u00a0 And there is what Reeves calls a \u201cpolitical stalemate\u201d that impedes working together to solve the problems, as \u201cthe political left is in denial\u201d and the \u201cpolitical right wants to turn back the clock.\u201d<\/p>\n

(It\u2019s a short book and an easy read, so you, too, should request it be purchased at your library.)<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m going to drill down to one chapter, Chapter 6, \u201cNon-Responders, Policies Aren\u2019t Helping Boys and Men,\u201d because this is where I was genuinely surprised at the key point that various programs meant to help poor\/minority children, actually only helped the girls.<\/p>\n

The Kalamazoo Promise, the first-of-its-kind promise by an anonymous benefactor to pay for tuition at in-state colleges for students attending public schools in Kalamazoo?\u00a0 Studies say it had a dramatic impact \u2014 on the girls, whose college completion rates increased 45%.\u00a0 At the same time, the men\u2019s rates \u201cdidn\u2019t budge.\u201d\u00a0 And researchers don\u2019t have an explanation why, though Reeves interviewed a young Kalamazooian black man who reported that he struggled to find a path in college, but observed that \u201cfemales are just working harder, doing better, asking more questions,\u201d and explained that, when he did find his path, he \u201calways sought out female-dominated study groups because \u2018you just knew they would get it done.'\u201d<\/p>\n

Another program, a support program called Stay the Course, at a Fort Worth community college, similarly saw great results \u2014 but only for women.<\/p>\n

The three celebrated preschool programs, long-cited as proof of the benefits of intensive early-childhood education for poor children, the Abecedarian, Perry, and the Early Training Project, showed \u201cno significant long-term benefits for boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

A special summer reading program in North Carolina? Great benefits for girls, no statistically significant effect for boys.<\/p>\n

Urban boarding schools in Baltimore and DC?\u00a0 Again, benefits only for the girls.<\/p>\n

And there were more on Reeves\u2019 list.\u00a0 Perhaps he cherry-picked these, but I doubt it.<\/p>\n

And if you turn the page, Reeves lists jobs training programs with the same pattern \u2014 significant benefits for women, not for men.<\/p>\n

Now, Reeves is honest.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t claim to have an explanation and a \u201cfix\u201d for why these programs didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 Although he offers some ideas of his own in the last section of the book (redshirting boys since \u2014 see above \u2014 they just aren\u2019t ready for the demands now being placed on kindergartners; encouraging men to enter health and education fields; and encouraging more active fathers, whether or not they are married to their children\u2019s mothers), none of these are quick-fixes, but instead can only benefit the next generation of men.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some time ago, I wrote a number of blog posts about the troubles that boys and men were having in the U.S., that boys were struggling in school and men were struggling in the working world.\u00a0 Sadly, I mostly wrote these before I got into the practice of putting useful tags on the articles, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":8052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[281,440,690],"class_list":["post-18909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-black-men","tag-boys","tag-men"],"yoast_head":"\nBoys, Men, and unsuccessful solutions to the problem<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some time ago, I wrote a number of blog posts about the troubles that boys and men were having in the U.S., that boys were struggling in school and men\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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