The crisis facing American boys might trace back to one essential problem

America spends a great deal of time talking about what has gone wrong with young men.

They are falling behind in building and in their careers. Too many lack direction, discipline, purpose and confidence. Many worry about pornography, loneliness, video games, declining marriage rates, anger, apathy and more.

Yet remarkably little attention is paid to a more fundamental question: Who should be forming boys to become men? For much of American history, the answer was men themselves.

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Before became synonymous with brick-and-mortar classrooms, a boy learned first from his father, then from a career mentor, from older male relatives and from other leading men in his community. Education certainly included literacy and arithmetic, but also scripture, history, duty, courage, self-control and how a man was expected to conduct himself.

At least until reformers such as Horace Mann came on the scene. Mann, known as "the father of American education," wanted standardized education across the country, which required enormous numbers of teachers. Women, who were up until then typically homemakers, became the answer.

Some argued women were naturally nurturing and morally suited to shape children. Still, others noticed something else. Finding inexpensive labor for the growing number of schools became a priority. Women at that time could be paid considerably less than men.

Mann asked in 1838 why communities should pay male teachers $25 or $30 monthly when women could do the job for roughly half the price. By 1870, nearly 90% of Massachusetts teachers were women.

Industrialization further transformed fatherhood. Boys who once watched their fathers work on farms, in workshops and running family businesses increasingly saw less and less of their fathers who began working elsewhere. Fathers became primarily breadwinners while others assumed responsibility for childrens formation.

The cultural division became this: Dad earned the money. Mom handled education.

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Today we can see what Manns reform wrought.

Nearly 80% of Americas public school teachers are women. Meanwhile, approximately one in five American children, more than 15 million, live with their mothers but not the fathers.

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Based on the proportion of female elementary , a simplified statistical model reveals nearly half of American children could complete kindergarten through fifth grade without ever being in a classroom led by a male teacher. This is not to suggest female teachers provide inferior education. Women stepped into a space too many men vacated and continue to carry an enormous responsibility educating both girls and boys. But a system offering boys almost no male role models is missing something essential.

Consider then what happens when these two realities intersect. Millions of boys are growing up without a father in the home. And classrooms are overwhelmingly led by women. Some boys may go through their most formative years — during which they develop confidence, courage, resilience and the ability to handle frustration — without a consistent male role model in the places they spend most of their time.

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