It seems like every few years, there's a new wave of "end of men" stories, books, and publicity.
The latest wave includes the book Of Boys and Men by Brookings Institute's Richard Reeves.
We haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but we listened to Reeves being interviewed on the excellent Plain English podcast.
Key quote from the podcast's landing page setting up the interview:
"American men have a problem. They account for less than 40 percent of new college graduates but roughly 70 percent of drug overdose deaths and more than 80 percent of gun violence deaths."
We first discussed the end of men trend in 2010, and a popular book by the same name came out in 2012. The same issues - men not doing well in school and struggling with addiction and violence - were at the center of that book and our post.
In 2016, the end of men trend popped up again. This time the driver was the growth of "deaths of despair" and men.
And in 2021, there was a flurry of articles on the declining share of men enrolled in colleges and universities.
None of this is meant to detract from Reeves' book or research. While the topic keeps popping up, solutions to the problem remain elusive.
Reeve suggests holding boys back a year in school, allowing them more time to mature. His recent Atlantic article, Redshirt the Boys, nicely summarizes this policy proposal.
The problems of men and boys have been widely known and chronicled for several decades - and they are getting progressively worse.
Redshirting may or may not be a solution to the problem. But it seems worth experimenting with.
