Each school shooting is its own unique horror story. But as we learn more about each of the perpetrators, they seem to have some common traits. Almost all of them are young men. They are isolated, depressed, were often bullied, experienced childhood trauma, frequently have troubled families, and have insatiable anger toward the world. Despite the clear signs of psychological problems that they demonstrate, they rarely get the help they need. Michael Gurian, family therapist and author of Saving our Sons, tells National Review, “The common denominator is that they’re mentally ill . . . they are all biochemically and neurally depressed . . . then they get a gun, and the frontal lobe doesn’t override, and they kill.” In order to stop this trend, we need to address the root problems behind the growing mental-health epidemic among young men in America.
Young men have been neglected by society for years. Education is geared toward girls. Boys who act like typical boys are disciplined for misbehavior. According to one report, boys account for 70 percent of school suspensions and 80 percent of high-school dropouts. Recess, often a necessary part of the school day for boys, is in sharp decline in schools. According to 2011 research by the American Association for a Child’s Right to Play, 40 percent of school districts have cut down on recess since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act. The legislation pushed schools to boost test scores, which meant cutting recess in many cases. Many fewer men are going to college, a pathway that is often a necessary prerequisite for financial success; nearly 60 percent of college students were women at the end of the 2020–21 academic year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Given all of this, it is no wonder that so many boys are falling behind in reading. Yet we still hear more about the greater importance of getting more girls interested in STEM than about helping boys to catch up to girls.
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