Failing to Launch from Boys to Men: A Troubling Epidemic

Who knew that Matthew McConaughey's foray into romantic comedy--a most dreadful film genre to most critics--would be so sociologically and culturallly relevant? In Dr. Leonard Sax's Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men (2009), he argues that McConaughey's Failure to Launch (2006) is a gem of a movie in that it reflects an American epidemic of men who are underachieving and who seem to be perfectly accepting of that fact. Before presenting his explanation, I offer a personal anecdote.

This past school year, I experienced my most challenging teaching experience EVER. This is because I came across the most disengaged, apathetic, and academically unmotivated group of students EVER (the word bears repeating). Made up of a majority of boys, this group was so immature and indifferent to academic learning that school was simply a social experience. Of all the things that they were engaged in, academics ranked at the bottom of their list. A newly transitioning high school to middle school ELA teacher, I was shocked and unprepared for this lack of academic motivation in kids so young.

According to Dr. Sax, however, my experience was not an anomaly: the United States has been experiencing a negative trend towards academically disengaged boys who become unmotivated men. He attributes these changes to five factors (social, cultural, and biological) observed in the last thirty years in his practice as a physician (M.D.) and psychologist (Ph.D.):

1. Changes in educational format and curriculum 
2. Acceleration of early education curriculum 
3. Shift from learning how (Kenntnis) to learning what (Wissenschaft) 
4. Abolition of competitive formats 
5. The advent of ultra-high-tech video games 
6. The overprescribing of stimulant medication 
7. Endoctrine disruptors (Hormones in the environment or products that we use that negatively impact children biologically and behaviorally) 
8. Revenge of the forsaken gods 

In short, Sax argues that boys and girls are different and develop at a distinct physiological pace. These changes become evident when some boys enter school. For a boy who (due to age) is not yet physiologically ready to conform to the expectations of school in order to learn (sit still), a snowball effect occurs:

1. he becomes disengaged and develops a negative mindset about academics 
2. he is labeled ADD/ADHD by teachers, 
3. he is then prescribed stimulant medication (that negatively impact motivation) by overeager doctors, 
4. he then escapes to the world of video games, as that presents quick access to success and sense of control, 
5. he becomes disconnected from reality, and he ultimately becomes the unmotivated adult lacking drive and ambition that is now plaguing America. 

(I can't begin to tell you how many of those boys of mine were on ADD/ADHD medication. A few definitely needed to be; others I have my reservations about).

Sax develops each of these points, since the causes and effects are not as superficial and as linear as presented. As an educator, though, I find it interesting and accurate that he identifies the nature of schooling in America and the education reforms of the past few years as integral to the challenges boys face in becoming motivated and engaged boys in the classroom and men in society.

Beyond just identifying the problems, Sax offers recommendations (to parents) to combat some of the factors that he outlines in his text. Recommendations include the following, among others:

1. Don't recommend to your pediatrician that your child receive ADD/ADHD medication simply because a teacher recommends that you should. Investigate more. It might simply be a case that your son is not yet ready for school, as the curriculum of kindergarten, with its emphasis on reading and writing, is really now 1st grade. You might want to hold your son back until he is physiologically ready to meet the requirements of school (kindergarten), which for a boy, might be age 6. (Heck, that's how some European countries do it, and their students are kicking American students' butt). 
2. Form a parent group and lobby to alter a school's curriculum or learning format. 
3. Enroll your child in an all-boy school or all-boy clubs or activities. 
4. Limit video game time. 
5. Substitute video game activity with the "real thing" or equivalent activity. 
6. Actively recruit male role models. 
7. Stay away from plastics with PBA and PVC chemicals. Use ceramic, glass, or food-grade stainless steel. 

In all, Boys Adrift is an engrossing, accessible, and quick read that provides great insight into the various factors that have contributed to an epidemic of American males who have been affected by a failure to launch into motivated and productive adults. If you are a parent, teacher, sibling, partner, or simply know a male who is struggling and not fulfilling his potential, or who seems to be ill-equipped to manage his own life independently, READ THIS BOOK! Sax makes a compelling case that will make reading Boys Adrift worth your time.