"I wish I had a bit more courage,...."

a href=”http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/3702658/fathers-have-become-secondclass-citizens.thtml”The Spectator: /a”Toby Young says that Father’s Day is nothing to celebrate: today’s neutered dads have become overworked assistants to their children rather than paternal role models.” Young makes some good points about dads in the article and how their role is diminished, but the main item that caught my eye was this: br /br /blockquoteI wish I had a bit more courage, particularly as I have three sons. Among advocates of men’s rights, the main focus is on the iniquities of family law — and the bias shown towards women in custody agreements is clearly indefensible. But the people who suffer most from the diminution of paternal authority are adolescent males. A recent study by the Department for Children, Schools and Families discovered that white boys do worse in their GCSEs than Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, African and Chinese boys, not to mention girls from any background. The only groups that perform worse are ‘Traveller of Irish Heritage’, ‘Gypsy Roma’ and ‘Pupil in Care’./blockquotebr /I think a lot about how boys are faring in a society where they are treated like second class citizens, along with their dads. I was recently at a spa getting a pedicure and a young boy and his sister were sitting next to their mom. The young boy blurted out, “I can’t help it that I’m not a girl!” in response to something they were saying. I was taken back a bit. When did you used to hear boys saying that and in a serious way? br /br /Our society simultaneously thinks it’s funny that boys have been regulated to second class citizenship and at the same time, they feel it it their “just desserts.” Afterall, they must pay for whatever happened to women in past times. This is cruel and vindictive but worst of all, it is happening because we let it. br /br /Perhaps this Father’s Day, we should all think about what it mean to have “a bit more courage,” when it comes to helping the next generation of boys succeed. Without courage, we (and they) are lost.