OPINION:
In his book “Of Boys and Men,” Richard V. Reeves rattles off a laundry list of depressing statistics about the state of American boys and men.
For instance, 10 million American men, or 1 in 3, with only a high school diploma are now out of the workforce. Men who entered the workforce 40 years ago now earn 10% less in real income than the previous generation. Men account for 3 out of every 4 suicides or drug overdoses and are increasingly isolated. About 15% say they have no friends. Tragically, for future generations, 1 in 5 fathers does not live with his children.
A young female colleague of a dear friend of mine recently wrote, “I consider myself a feminist. But I can understand that young men are flailing in a society where most women still expect to date a man as [equal to] or more successful than them, yet young women are far outstripping young men in both college degree completion and wage earnings.”
This young woman succinctly summarized, from a female perspective, the problems facing young men today. Another female reporter, Claire Cain Miller, reported on these problems recently in The New York Times.
She wrote, “In the United States, researchers say several economic and social changes have combined to change boys’ and men’s trajectories. School has changed in ways that favor girls, and work has changed in ways that favor women. Boys are often seen as troublemakers, and men have heard that masculinity is ‘toxic.’”
The factors that lead to the struggles of young males begin as early as kindergarten, culminating in boys being 6% less likely than girls to graduate from high school, according to the Brookings Institution. Boys, as Ms. Miller notes, are perceived as troublemakers, often because they do not mature as quickly as girls either emotionally or academically.
Without even the most basic diploma to enter the adult working world, is it any surprise that many young men are failing to launch, let alone thrive?
Even if they do achieve a high school degree, many men do not go on to college. The National Student Clearinghouse documented an alarming drop in the number of men in four-year colleges in relation to the number of female enrollees. The ratio is now 60:40 in favor of women attending college.
Although many men are going to trade schools that will provide them with decent-paying jobs, the avenue to unlock higher-paying jobs continues to be through a college education. The typical wages of those with a bachelor’s degree are 86% higher than those with only a high school diploma.
Finally, as Ms. Miller notes, “The work trajectories of men and women have also diverged, as many of the jobs that mostly men did, like manual labor, have disappeared in the United States, while women dominate today’s service-oriented work.”
All this results in deeper cultural issues for American society.
With fewer men attending college, there are fewer prospects for women seeking a high-income spouse. This, in turn, correlates with another recent study, which found that many college-educated women are having their first child out of wedlock because they have not found a suitable mate to provide for their family.
Without any educational, financial and spiritual moorings, these men are drawn to bad male role models, such as the infamous Tate brothers, instead of good male role models who would help get them on the right path and off a path that is destructive to them, women and society.
It is critical that we, as a society, return to communicating to men the value they provide as responsible men, fathers and citizens. This does not mean denying women opportunities. Rather, it means we should elevate positive male role models in our culture and stop the negative portrayals so prevalent in the media of the toxic, clueless man, husband and father.
That is what my friend’s colleague has realized: We do not need to deny opportunities for women at the expense of men. What we need to do is have a society that affirms both men and women and provides educational opportunities that will allow both to flourish.
• Timothy S. Goeglein is vice president of external and government relations for Focus on the Family. He served as special assistant to President George W. Bush and as a deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison.
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