Boys and men are struggling academically, mentally and socially. In recent decades, they have been losing ground in the classroom and workplace, as they struggle to find purpose and meaning after decades of erosion of traditionally-defined male roles in the economy and in the family.

At every grade level from kindergarten through 12th grade, girls now earn better grades than boys on average, in every subject. What's more, 45,000 fewer boys than girls are graduating each year from high school, amounting to a gender gap of 6 percentage points. The gender gap in higher education is even wider: Men currently earn only 42 percent of the degrees.

There is now general agreement across the ideological spectrum that boys in the U.S. are in trouble. The discussion about how to address this crisis has become mainstream.

Well-intentioned people have a variety of ideas about how to tackle the predicament in boys’ education. Although there is some agreement that the academic crisis of boys reflects a failure to accommodate their distinctive learning style and to present boys with a positive and attractive vision of masculinity, there is no consensus about a plan of action to address these problems.

Some believe that recruiting more men to the........

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