For several decades now, girls have been outperforming boys academically.
They earn higher grades, are less likely to drop out, and are significantly more likely to attend college. Women now earn the majority of professional degrees, according to the Hechinger Report, including 60 percent of master’s and doctorates.
The growing gender gap in achievement isn’t just bad for young men, it’s bad for women too. Wages for less-educated men are declining, with enormous implications for our nation’s economic and political stability. The rise of MAGA is arguably one such consequence.
One factor that could account for these disparities in academic performance is the dearth of men in teaching, says Curtis Valentine, president of the just-launched Male Educator Network (MEN) and Policy Institute, an initiative of the American Institute for Boys and Men. According to the institute’s research, just 23 percent of teachers are men, and only 6 percent are men of color.
Valentine, who is Black and himself a former middle-school teacher, says many boys are starved of positive role models in the classroom. While on cafeteria duty at a school in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Valentine said, boys would sometimes wander over and simply stand nearby. “They didn’t ask for anything, it wasn’t much of a conversation, but it was just sort of a presence,” he said. “For a lot of them, [this was] the first time they were that close to a man where they felt safe, they felt like they didn’t have to defend themselves, and [it wasn’t] a guy who was trying to talk to their mother or someone in authority or a police officer.”
Research shows that having a male educator can lead to better outcomes for boys in school, Valentine says, including higher graduation rates and a greater likelihood of going to college. But few men are choosing to become teachers, and many of those who do don’t last. Valentine’s mission is to understand why and to offer solutions for building a pipeline for men in teaching.
Curtis is a former colleague of mine from the Progressive Policy Institute, where he led the think tank’s K-12 education initiative along with charter school champion David Osborne. I asked him about his work for the preview version of the Monthly podcast in the video above. Among the questions we tackled is how to change the perception of teaching as an inherently “feminine”—and therefore low-prestige—profession. One answer is the message on Curtis’s t-shirt: “Real Men Teach.”
I hope you’ll consider the educators who made a difference in your own life and take a look at what Curtis has to say.
Circus Minimus. You know you’re in trouble if even Milli Vanilli won’t play for you. The scandal-plagued ‘80s-era glam band was just one of the many acts that have dropped out of the Trump administration’s planned “Freedom250” Trollapalooza on the National Mall. The original lineup looked to be excavated from the remainders bin of a Tower Records—Morris Day and the Time, C and C Music Factory, Young MC, and the has-been hair band hero Bret Michaels (from Poison, remember?) All of these performers have cancelled, apparently preferring to re-relegate themselves to musical extinction than appear at what they consider a “divisive” event. (Flo Rida and Vanilla Ice are still in.) Maybe the White House should give Alex Wilkins, Kash Patel’s country singer girlfriend, a call. She’s essentially already performing at taxpayer expense.
New at the Monthly…
The geography of loneliness. More Americans than ever are “bowling alone,” to borrow sociologist Robert Putnam’s evocative phrase, but some parts of the country are lonelier than others. Author Colin Woodard uncovers a striking pattern—the health of the social fabric in any given region depends on its citizens’ attitudes toward government. ”Whether a region’s cultural value set is oriented toward individualism (‘less taxes, less government, less regulation equals more freedom’) or communitarianism (invest in public goods to maintain an environment where the bottom 90 to 99 percent of the population can live in freedom)” strongly correlates with the amount of “social capital” available, he writes. The map below shows that the communitarian spirit is strongest in the Midwest, while the Deep South and the border West are the most individualistic. The social, political, and economic implications are clear. Read here.
Enfant terrible. He’s got Gavin Newsom hair and rocks some super cool shades, but French President Emmanuel Macron cannot charm his own voters into rearming France in the event of NATO’s disintegration. Though fellow leaders have come around to his view that Europe must learn to defend itself without U.S. support, Macron’s unpopularity at home has hobbled his own ability to act on his words, writes Editor Gillen Tener Martin. “After a decade of austerity measures, tax cuts, swelling debt, and rising costs, working- and middle-class French citizens are hurting, and they don’t feel Macron is easing their pain,” she writes. French voters are instead prioritizing affordability over defense. As a consequence, Gillen continues, “a ‘European NATO’ is neither around the corner nor on the horizon,” a development that can only redound to Russia’s benefit. Read here.
Mills should grind on. Maine governor Janet Mills “suspended” her campaign to be the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate after polls seemed to indicate an impending loss to the oysterman upstart Graham Platner. Politics Editor Bill Scher begs her to reconsider. “Polls aren’t votes,” he writes. “It may be that Maine Democrats still want Platner as their nominee, but that should be a choice they make, not a fait accompli foisted upon them.” As Republicans ramp up their attacks on Platner as the presumptive nominee, doubts about his “electability” are emerging. (Getting caught on camera calling a soldier a “dumb motherfucker” who “didn’t deserve to live” doesn’t help.) For Mainers getting cold feet, keeping Mills on the ballot could be a blessing. The goal, Scher says, would be “making sure voters get to choose who would be best suited to take on the formidable Collins: a rough-hewn, freewheeling outsider or a cautious two-term governor. If Maine Democrats want to take a gamble, let them be the ones who put their chips on the table.” Read here.
Trump’s perverse “defense” of women. It’s only in Trump’s America that “defending” women encompasses the harassment of women’s colleges. Earlier this month, the Department of Education announced an “investigation” into Smith College—one of the nation’s leading women’s institutions—for its trans-inclusive policies. Smith College professor Carrie N. Baker writes that the administration’s attention is unwelcome. “I can assure you that Smithies don’t need Donald Trump’s protection,” she declares. Moreover, she points out, “Over a decade ago, cisgender women students demanded that Smith admit transgender women.” Baker argues that the DOE’s complaint against Smith is part of a larger campaign, more insidious campaign: “Its probe is part of a broader reinterpretation of civil rights laws to erode women’s rights, undermining the very purpose of these statutes.” Read here.
Plus…
Editor Nate Weisberg questions just how doomed entry-level workers really are with the advent of AI. He finds that jobs aren’t disappearing—but they’ll be harder to get for workers without the right skills.
Bill Scher’s second column of the week argues that if you’re among the Republicans who called for Rep. Eric Swalwell’s expulsion from Congress, you should be demanding Trump’s impeachment too.
Coda (dystopian enclaves edition)…
If you want to bowl alone together, it’s likely not going to work out—especially if you’re a doomsday prepper or a white supremacist.
In South Dakota, The Wall Street Journal reports, a 575-member "luxury survivalist community” is tearing itself apart over “HOA-style grievances.” Complaints include broken septic systems, errant dogs, extortionate fees, and amenities (like a “restaurant bunker, a pool bunker, and a horse stable bunker”) that haven’t materialized. “Guns have been drawn, and there have been offers to settle things with fists.” Moral of the story: homogeneity isn’t harmony.
In Arkansas, meanwhile, a “whites-only” community is facing a federal lawsuit over violations of civil rights and fair housing laws, reports the New York Times. The 160-acre “Return to the Land” community, founded by a pair of white nationalists, bans “Jews, Black people, homosexuals and anyone with heritage that isn’t white and European,” according to the Times. Realtor Michelle Walker, who is white but has a Black husband and biracial children, filed suit after her application to buy investment property in the community was denied. Walker filled out a questionnaire about her ethnicity, religion, and political beliefs. She was also asked if she belonged to “any other white nationalist organizations” and “how often she thinks about the Roman Empire.” “I was stunned when I saw the questions on the application,” Walker told the Times. Presumably because these queries are blatantly illegal. Federal fair housing laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of race or religion.
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Have a great week!
Anne Kim, Senior Editor
