Boy Crisis of 2025, Meet the ‘Boy Problem’ of the 1900s

Opinion|Boy Crisis of 2025, Meet the ‘Boy Problem’ of the 1900s

In the early years of the 20th century, America had a “boy problem.” Boys on the street, making trouble. Boys becoming truants. Boys getting caught up in crime. The problem spread across the United States alongside the disruptions of technological change, immigration and growing socioeconomic inequality.

Policymakers stepped in — with universal public schooling, for example. But it was the civic response that was truly extraordinary. In less than a decade, most of today’s major child-serving organizations were founded: Big Brothers (1904), the Federated Boys’ Clubs (1906), Boy Scouts (1910), Girl Scouts (1912) and 4-H (1912).

Many boys and men are struggling today, too, in an America once again disrupted by technological change, immigration and growing inequality. Since 2010, suicide rates among young men have risen by a third — they are now higher than they are among middle-aged men. The share of college degrees going to men has fallen to 41 percent, lower than the women’s share in 1970. One in 10 men aged 20 to 24 is effectively doing nothing — neither enrolled in school nor working. That’s twice the rate in 1990. This crisis demands a response equivalent to what the Progressive era delivered, not just in public policy but equally important, from our civic institutions.

Today’s leaders have been slow to recognize the extent of male troubles, in part because of a fear of being seen as somehow anti-woman. But alarm bells are ringing.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California just signed an executive order that was hard to imagine a few months ago. It offers a comprehensive plan to tackle what it describes as “California’s growing crisis of connection and opportunity for men and boys.” Mr. Newsom said the order was “about showing every young man that he matters and there’s a path for him of purpose, dignity, work and real connection.”

Similar pushes have been announced by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah and Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland. (One of the authors of this piece, Richard V. Reeves, is working on these plans with many of these same governors.)