The K-12 System Isn't Making Boys Into Men

 

“It's true, as William A. Galston writes in his column "America Needs More Husband Material" (Politics & Ideas, Dec. 24), that there is a class divide in American nuptials. Contrary to feminist expectations, and to much contemporary anxiety, marriage is alive and well among the college-educated classes. Fears that highly educated women wouldn't find men worthy of them were unfounded.

 

What matters to working-class women aren't the initials after a man's name but the numbers on his paycheck. Female nurses are willing to marry successful male plumbers. Women want mates who are economically viable. This doesn't mean they're secretly aching to become "tradwives." It means they want real choices about how to balance work and family, which means they need husbands who can perform in the labor market.

 

Mr. Galston points to higher education and vocational training as key to enhancing men's economic appeal. Important and true. But the problems start much earlier, in the K-12 education system. There boys have fallen far behind girls, especially in literacy, where they lag almost a grade behind in the average school district. Among high-schoolers with grade point averages in the top 10%, there are twice as many girls as boys. For the bottom 10% of students, there are twice as many boys as girls.

 

It's clear that our K-12 schools serve girls better than boys. To strike a balance, we need more hands-on learning, more opportunities to compete, more recess, more coaches for after-school sports, more investment in gifted-and-talented programs (which especially help low-income boys), more high-dose tutoring and, above all, more male teachers. The share of male educators has dropped to 23% from 33% in recent decades.

 

As the old feminist mantra has it: If you can't see it, you can't be it. If boys see female classmates surging ahead and a teaching profession in which men are in a shrinking minority, no wonder so many are checking out.

 

Richard V. Reeves

 

American Inst. for Boys and Men

 

Butler, Tenn.” [1]

 

We need:

“Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money” (Tom T. Hall's classic country song). Particularly for teachers – men.

 

1. The K-12 System Isn't Making Boys Into Men. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 02 Jan 2026: A12.