Boys Education Is More Important Than Ever

At the recommendation of a friend, I spent some time on the trip listening to a podcast from the Ezra Klein show entitled, The Men – And Boys – are Not Alright. This is based on Richard Reeves’ book, Of Boys and Men. Several people have sent me his YouTube video featuring Reeves discussing the same subject.

 

Reeves shares his research and data on the dizzying array of statistics indicating that boys are struggling. While his data is largely American, the same trends are being observed across North America and around the world. Fewer young men are entering higher education and fewer still are completing their studies and graduating. Relative to women, far fewer men are entering professions like health care, education and social work, which has a compounding impact on the future of male representation in these professions, as boys don’t see themselves in them. Most strikingly, three-of-four deaths of despair (suicide, death by overdose and death related to alcoholism) are suffered by men.

 

Boys and men, particularly those from racialized or disadvantaged backgrounds, are fast becoming lost.

 

This is not, of course, a zero-sum game. Systems that lead to more, healthy, thriving men do not need to come at the expense of girls and women who have, since the origins of society, been subjugated and underserved in every conceivable systemic way. I taught at a girls school in the 1990s at a time when women were underrepresented in higher education and careers involving engineering, science and mathematics. We stressed with our students and families the gift that girls education could be in mitigating the societal trends and stereotypes that might stand in the way of their true potential. 

 

As the leader of an boys school I am, of course, a strong advocate of boys education. In much the same way as I observed the power of removing gender stereotypes in the girls school, I see, every day, the opportunity boys have to shine in domains where they may not otherwise feel comfortable in a co-educational school due to social norms and gender stereotypes. Every day, I see RSGC students engaged, without stigma, in pursuits like singing, acting, debating, the arts and writing. Our graduates have always pursued studies in the arts, education and social sciences, often significantly outnumbered in their programs by female students. There is, I observe, the freedom to pursue these things without the gender norms that often accompany them while they’re in school.  

Reeves notes that school systems are designed for students who are better organized, able to sit for long periods of time and keep track of materials and homework. These are, both stereotypically and in practice, not typical strengths of boys. Our commitment to daily physical and health education in Grades 3 to 6; our use of Knights Support and our Learning Support Centres to explicitly teach organizational skills; and the alternating day schedule in the Senior School are a few examples of systems specifically designed to benefit boys.

 

Perhaps, most importantly, 50 per cent of the educators at RSGC are men. This is compared to 31 per cent in our province and 27 per cent nationally. Our students not only see and experience gentle masculinity exercised every day, they see men and women engaged as equal partners in their workplace. Boys are, unfortunately, turning in huge numbers to the cesspool version of masculinity as espoused by the likes of Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson. It’s essential that we provide a better model, as boys are clearly looking for answers to their questions about what masculinity looks like and how it can be lived.

 

Every day, I see positive masculinity modelled by our older students and alumni. For me, the best definition of “culture” of any organization is the one created in the 1980s by organizational culture researchers Deal and Kennedy. They define culture quite simply as “the way we do things around here.” 

While I’d love to believe that I, or any other adult at RSGC, can control the culture of RSGC, the truth is the students have a far more important role in holding safe the culture of our school, and passing it on, than any adult can. Our older students value the positive masculinity that is so embedded in our school culture. Our reputation as Georgians is so important to them and they work hard to pass it on to younger students in the same way it was passed on to them. Our students tell me that the most Georgian acts they recall are small acts of kindness, from older to younger students – knowing someone’s name; including them in a game; being kind and inclusive.

 

We continue our significant work to be a better boys school; to be a more inclusive and equitable boys school; to be a place of belonging for a more diverse community. We need to ensure gender equity among our faculty, staff and administrative team. We need to remember the gift that is boys education. This is especially so in a complex world where boys need to be found and seen, and not allowed to drift and become lost.

Our commitment to boys education has never been more essential.