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Foreword
Chris Mason’s deftly reasoned and inspiring book arrives at a propitious time for all those who care about boys and their education. It seems that for a long time “masculinity” has been besieged by criticism––at the extreme attacked as a toxic power. With good reason, the spotlight has been trained on gender equality, and on overcoming the social and educational barriers to women’s and girls’ achievement and success. While the journey is not yet complete and obstacles remain, gains for girls are among the most revolutionary of our time. It may well be, as some have said, that this was a necessary swing of the pendulum. But where has this left the boys?
Since the 1990s new research has uncovered mounting concern about boys’ well-being and achievement. While the evidence is at times controversial, we now see clear signs and grave risk of underachievement among boys. There is growing concern that schools are not serving boys well. In higher education, young women outperform young men in admission and in academic performance. With so many factors at play, some claim that this “boy crisis” is exaggerated, but intuition and experience also tell us that all is not well––that we have failed the boys.
Writers have also dissected a crisis of masculinity and manhood, caught between ancient mythologies of what it means to be a man and the corrosive pressures of a decidedly complex world. “Masculinity” in all its complex meanings has emerged as a surprisingly rich and compelling topic––one that matters to how we educate boys everywhere.