U.S. Must Act Now to Save 'Lost Boys' of Higher Education

BOSTON, Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- If the United States simply accepts that males will continue to lag behind their female counterparts in academic interest and performance—a gap that continues to widen according to the latest Census Bureau data—the consequences will be profound, not only for the so-called "lost boys" themselves, but for American society and higher education in general, veteran LeClairRyan attorney Robert B. Smith asserts in an opinion piece published Oct. 2 by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"This is no abstract issue," writes Smith, a Boston-based partner in the national law firm and head of its Education Industry Team. "Ultimately, it could lead to a country in which millions of young men live with their parents and work lousy jobs with few or no benefits, and in which a class of highly educated, professionally engaged women is expected to support underemployed husbands."

In the column ("Saving the 'Lost Boys' of Higher Education"), Smith notes that, for the first time, women have sailed past men in obtaining both bachelor's degrees and advanced college degrees, according to data released in April 2011 by the U.S. Census Bureau. But while the report sparked some discussion about today's shifting gender roles and the burgeoning ranks of stay-at-home dads, much of the commentary it generated had a matter-of-fact tone. "Thanks to the likes of Richard Whitmire's 2010 book Why Boys Fail and The Atlantic's exhaustive cover story 'The End of Men,' Americans, it seems, are getting used to the idea that men are on the decline," writes Smith, who previously spent 14 years as an in-house counsel at Boston University.

And yet this issue is not about whether, say, well-educated males should take care of the kids, Smith explains. "If a husband can stay at home and run a successful online business while his wife practices medicine, great," he writes. "But if he struggled in academics, dropped out of high school, and resents his wife's power and prestige, it will be a raw deal for all involved."

Getting to the root of this gender gap should therefore be a top priority. And yet one promising effort—the proposal to establish a White House Council on Boys to Men, spearheaded by the author Warren Farrell—appears to have stalled amid lack of interest, which has no doubt been exacerbated by the widespread belief that males already "hold all the cards," Smith writes. In the column, the attorney describes the great concern among admissions officials about the unbalanced female-to-male ratios on college campuses, and notes that as fewer males make it to college this could translate into even harder economic times for the nation's cash-strapped colleges and universities. "Amid a global marketplace brimming with hungry competitors," Smith writes, "can we afford to foot the bill for generations of lost boys?"

Establishing a White House Council on Boys to Men could be a good first step toward translating some of these concerns into concrete action, he notes. The commission that put forth the now-stalled proposal has identified five "crisis level" factors: education, emotional health, physical health, father involvement, and work. "By combining the perspectives and findings of various experts, a White House council could provide a multidisciplinary, integral approach to a difficult social issue," Smith writes.

Meaningful action, he adds, will be impossible unless educators at all levels summon the courage to take a stand against the forces of political correctness. "When it comes to how American boys are doing these days," Smith writes in the conclusion to the piece, "the research is in—they are lost, and they need help."

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Robert B. Smith
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