Re-Thinking The Education of Boys

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The world has been worried about alienated young men for a long time. Young men caused worry already in Ancient Greece and most likely before that, too. For a long time, this worry was based on the behavior and fads of young men. Often this worry was well justified. Young men grow into adult men, and for centuries our societies have rested on their shoulders, while girls and women have been more tied to their homes. Now, this old worry is taking new forms, as young men find it increasingly difficult to find work and start a family. Problems arising from this trend are plentiful, and it has many faces that can be seen all over the world. Luckily education can be of help here, as is the case with many other challenges, too.

 More work and marriages mean more stability

Many young men discover it difficult to find work with decent pay. According to European Union, youth unemployment rates in Southern European countries are nearing 30 %, and even in Sweden one-fifth of its youth is unemployed. And these are the numbers before the coronavirus pandemic. The trend is global.

Getting married and building a healthy family is proving difficult for young men, too. For example, in India and China, there are reportedly tens of millions of more young men than women. This matters, since according to studies marriage sometimes does decrease women’s life satisfaction, the reverse is true for men. Married men are more healthy, pro-social and perform better than unmarried ones. Young men with nothing to do and without a positive outlook on the future can be a societal problem, since they are more prone to take part in problematic behaviors than their counterparts. This is not surprising. We all want to have a direction in our lives, and young men possess a lot of energy, which must find a way to erupt.

 Mens’ self-worth matters

The trend of alienated young men is in many ways caused by political and economical choices and by fast changes in the ways we live. We educators have no power over those ones, but education has a major role in finding solutions to the lives of young people.

In many countries, education about girls’ and women’s rights is needed. Empowering women has many benefits for societies, and it also helps men and women to build more equal and healthy relationships. This makes young men more marriageable in the eyes of young women. Education self-evidently helps men in finding work, and when done right, develops skills which help them to keep the job in the future, too.

The importance of education cannot be emphasized enough. For many children, school is the place where they form their most important social connections apart from their families. Knowledge they gather from education should broaden their horizons and give them a sense of belonging in their societies, but also help them to understand that they have a capacity to have an influence on the world around them. Education itself is full of possibilities. This is why re-thinking the education of boys should be highlighted to prevent the alienation of young men.

 Everyone has a talent

But it is not just any education that will do. The psychological side of education must be taken into an account.

Aleksis Salusjärvi, a Finnish journalist specialized in literature, has been teaching writing and literature for marginalized young Finnish men in their early teens till late twenties. He has worked with families and children in child welfare, young men in vocational schools and in prisons; all together he has been introducing literature to around 5000 young men who have negative attitude towards reading and writing.

“The common trait I bump into is that these boys and men feel they are not being heard,” Salusjärvi says.

He is onto something here, because there is one thing in common with alienated young men all over the world: The feeling of being secluded. For centuries, being a man has meant being the king of the castle at home and a provider for a family. Men’s self-worth has very much rested on succeeding in these accomplishments. But now, the world has changed, and so must change our views on masculinity. To be brutal, in our world order, many men won’t succeed in traditional ways, but yet they long to feel needed, respected and loved. We need to broaden our views on masculinity, and we may find whole new ways of being a successful man.

Not being heard can lead to angriness, violence or sometimes, as Salusjärvi has found out, to underachievement. In prisons, he works with his students through rap-music.

“We work one-on-one or in small groups. Prisoners get to write their own lyrics. Sometimes the lyrics are fantastic, comparable to any respected works of literature. But these men are totally incapable in recognizing their own talent or seeing the worthiness of it,” Salusjärvi tells.

“Many of them have not succeeded in school or in formal tests. They wouldn’t be able to tell you about punctuation or participial phrases. They are used to failing and have lost the belief in their own capacity. To protect themselves from further disappointments, they have even quit trying.”

The two things that Salusjärvi tries to install to his students are a hunger of life and a bravery to follow one’s talents. Because each one of us has a special talent in something, and while young men still need jobs and wives, more than ever they need self-confidence and a courage to own their lives.

 Writer: Kati Melto, Head of Marketing and Communications, Education House Finland.  

 This blog is a collaboration with Education House Finland and Futures Platform.