Boys and Schools Responds to TIME’s “The Myth About Boys”

The August 6, 2007 issue of TIME Magazine featured an article titled “The Myth About Boys,” which alleged that the boy crisis was overstated and that boys were, in fact, not in trouble. Below is Boys and Schools’ response to the article in question.

To read the TIME article, go here.

To read Dr. Leonard Sax’s response to the article, check out the Boys and Schools feature here.

To the Editors:

While I would like to commend your efforts to address the complex issues surrounding the boy crisis, I also found it very appropriate that David von Drehle’s article “The Myth About Boys” referenced Dr. Pangloss in its opening lines. Regrettably, this examination of the problems surrounding boys managed to mix blind optimism with a tendency to ignore the import of key indicators that boys are, in fact, in trouble.

The evidence for the existence of the boys’ crisis is clear. Consider the following: boys report being less engaged in school; are less likely to be high honors graduates; continue to lag behind girls in college enrollment (to the point that some college administrators acknowledge “favoring” boy applicants in order to keep their undergraduate population from slipping further); boys commit suicide at a rate approximately five times that of girls; boys are diagnosed with ADHD and learning disorders approximately three times as often as girls; boys are subject to an astounding literacy gap that leaves them an average 10 points behind girls in reading assessments and more than 20 points behind in writing assessments by twelfth grade (compare this to the average 3-4 point deficit for girls in mathematics assessments—a gap that has resulted in many praiseworthy efforts to get girls more involved in math and science). . . and I could go on. And yet, these and other relevant facts are brushed aside with the calm assurance that things could be a lot worse, that they’re slightly better than they used to be (maybe), or that the whole thing is just a chimera based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors. (In fact, though the literacy gaps mentioned do vary slightly by race, they are present across racial lines, and even sons of college-educated parents lag far behind their female peers in educational assessments.)

I am glad that Mr. Drehle finds so much hope in the future for boys—as the mother of two young sons, I too hope that these trends will reverse. However, wishing will not make it so, and neither will avoiding the reality of the situation. As Director of Boys and Schools, an organization dedicated to improving the health, education, and well-being of boys, I am committed not only to raising awareness of the problems facing boys, but also to working for change and helping boys and their families. While we might not be living in the best of all possible worlds for boys (and girls), there is no reason why we cannot work to make it so.

Sincerely,

Malia Blom

Director, Boys and Schools
202-543-6461 ext. 101
maliab@menshealthnetwork.org
www.boysandschools.com