Understanding the Boys: Issues of Behaviour and Achievement

This text aims to increase understanding of the potential causes of underachievement, violence and even suicide amongst teenage boys. Suicide has dramatically increased among young males and academic underachievement is common, the author argues that it is therefore important to understand the young male psyche. The text addresses questions such as: has male behaviour in school worsened, or has media hype inflated the proportions of a good story ; what is at the root of male violence; and are biological or social explanations telling the whole story? The author shows that it is only by engaging boys in arenas of thought and feeling that we can understand and help overcome the difficulties faced by boys today.