THE BOYS (MOSTLY) ARE ALRIGHT

STAT AFTER STAT says boys are in crisis, with lower grades, worse life skills, and higher rates of death by overdose and suicide. But a view from the front lines says not so fast.

- NICK FULLER GOOGINS

IT WAS A typical start to a typical math class in my fourth-grade room: My students had returned from lunch along with the cafeteria teacher, who needed to speak to me; three of my boys, habitual offenders of lunchroom volume and behavior rules, had done it again. At the same time, two students from the neighboring class ran up to complain that one of my students (a boy) had been sprinting down the hall. Yet another boy reported a classmate (a boy) for turning off the bathroom lights. I put out these little fires while ushering everyone into the room; we had to start math; the clock was ticking. Instead of following our established math routine (bring your whiteboard and marker to the carpet), two boys decided they would rather trade Pokémon cards. Another, tugging his things from his messy desk, caused its contents to vomit onto the floor. In as calm a voice as I could muster, I told the boys that they had 10 seconds to join the class before I lost my mind.

Ten, nine, eight...

Meanwhile, the girls were sitting on the carpet, math materials ready, waiting for the lesson to begin. I took a deep breath, looked at the boys, and thought, not for the first time: Come on, my dudes, pull your shit together.

If you haven't yet heard, social scientists and intellectuals are raising the alarm, declaring a "boys' crisis" in America. Pick almost any data point from the past two decades, and boys trail girls in category after category. Girls earn a higher GPA than boys. High school-age boys in public schools outpace girls in dropout, suspension, and expulsion rates and make up a majority of K-12 students reading and writing below grade level.