Are Boys and Men in trouble in the U.S.?

Many people today say boys and men are in trouble. Do you agree?

A recent New Yorker article said “In academic performance, boys are well behind girls in elementary school, high school, and college, where the sex ratio is approaching two female undergraduates for every one male. Men are increasingly dropping out of work during their prime working years, overdosing, drinking themselves to death, and generally dying earlier, including by suicide.” 1

What do you think? Do you think boys and men are in trouble? Do you think men are losing ground in America today? Are they becoming more of the problem and less of the solution? Do you find yourself full of hope and drive or full of defeat and lethargy?

When I was graduating from high school in 1991 it seemed like most guys knew what they wanted out of life. They had a plan. They knew where they were going. They had some ideas about how to get there. Today it seems like many young men aren’t sure of what they want next after high school and seem to wander around a lot before ever settling down if they ever settle down.  

Men used to fight for what was right, provide for and lead their family and seek to be a good husband. Now, so many young men, spend every spare minute they have playing video games, not getting married and not being all that great to women but rather using them.

In Richard Reeves’ book “Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It,” he points out that women earn roughly three-fifths of all bachelor’s and master’s degrees awarded today. They are the majority of current medical and law students. And they’ve made extraordinary gains in subjects where they had once been highly underrepresented; they now constitute a third of current graduates in stem fields and more than forty per cent of students in business schools.  1

Why is that and what sound be done about it?

In my opinion one of the best things that can be done is to teach young men what a man is according to the Word of God.

Nancy R. Pearcy in her book “The Toxic War on Masculinity” she says men who worship at a Christian church at least three times a month are “more loving to their wives and more emotionally engaged with their children than any other group in America. They are the least likely to divorce, and they have the lowest levels of domestic abuse and violence.”   

That’s saying something. That’s really BIG. We need young men, middle aged men and old men living according to the Word of God and it starts by teaching them when their 5 years old and up.

What should we teach them from the Word of God? I should teach them things like:

1.       Real men care for women, they don’t use women.

2.       Real men solve problems for others, they don’t create problems for others.

3.       Real men get married and are faithful to their wife, they don’t have sex outside of marriage.

4.       Real men work hard for what is right for others rather than seeking to just take for themselves.

5.       Real men spend more time contributing to the world than entertaining themselves.

The Word of God is so full of important truths for men and our world needs good men. It’s time to turn back to the Bible, the true and living Word of God.

Let’s do this together. Let’s teach the next generation what it means to be a real man. Let’s be the men our country needs and teach the next generation what this country is going to need.

Will you join me? There’s three things you can do:

1.       Sign up for my monthly and share this article with a friend.

2.       Keep coming back to my posts and comment.

3.       Sign up for an only group.

Until next time.

Pastor Chad Starfeldt