Book Review
Boys Adrift
Leonard Sax
5/5 stars
"Some dated things; Some time-independent wisdom."
*******

This book is the second of this topic that I have read (the first being "Of Boys and Men," by Richard Reeves). And it is pertinent to me because I have a house full of sons.

∆The first thought is that if I could raise responsible, self-directed alpha sons, then the market is WIDE OPEN for them. (The author quotes [p.172] David Gilmore that "culturally defined competence.... leads to reproductive success.")

I know an alpha-male type black guy (he is a master builder). He has 7 children by 5 women. (All white.) I have a white coworker who has 6 children by 6 women. (All black.)

It would be better if my sons did it the "right way" and got married and raised a house full of children; it is more important that the grandchildren get here than that they get here correctly.

∆The second thought is that the situation has metastasized far worse than the author could ever have dreamed when he wrote this book about 18 years ago: these days, we can't even define what a boy / girl is, *let alone* work forward from the definition to address problems. 

If I had to choose the most important points, they would probably be:

1. Parochial school is not only not a bad idea. It may, in fact, be essential. (Ideally, single sex to account for the different learning styles that a lot of young men have.)

2. It is necessary for young men (and young women as well) to have proper role models, as well as rituals that create a proper breaking point between childhood and adulthood. 

The author himself writes one chapter for each major factor: 

1. Single sex school 
2. Lay off/severely curtail the video games 
3. Use ADHD medication judiciously, if at all 
4. Be careful of toxins in plastics 
5. Make use of cultural constructs that are longest lived.

Factoids:

1. If a child has ADHD, it is worth considering what type of medicine one uses. Does one use a stimulant, which has the possibility of side effects much later? Or does one use something like Strattera? 

2. People have known about environmental estrogens for some time, but more due diligence is necessary. 

Second order thoughts:

1. This author is one of these American intellectuals for whom All Things Good And True are in Europe (p.28,189, etc). But, in spite of all of this, governments over there don't seem to be able to get their citizens to have children in order to fill up the schools. (EU Total Fertility Rate: 1.46; US: 1.78; Finland: 1.26; Germany: 1.35; Switzerland: 1.39.)

I don't know what it means to say that "they WOULD have the perfect education system if they could just convince people to have babies to send to school"? 

2. Western civilization such as it is is very experimental. And many other authors have brought forward the "Lindy effect" (most notably Nassim Nicholas Taleb): something can be expected to survive as long as it has survived. So, the concept of Social Security (that upsets the extended cooperation of families over several generations) is only a century old, and much shorter lived than more traditional arrangements.  ADC / welfare is about half a century old, and it was known In the United States by the time of The Clinton Administration that it had to be pared back.

If something is experimental then, by definition, it has to be falsified by catastrophic failure. And this is neither good nor bad; it just is. 

4. The author observes (p.168) "There is no enduring culture in which cowardly men are esteemed, or in which brave men are held in contempt. There is no enduring culture in which lazy men are celebrated while hardworking men are despised."

But that is just the situation that we have in the West. (Thomas Sowell: "Those who produce are demonized. Those who refuse to produce are subsidized. Those who complain are canonized." Same author has also mentioned the downgrading of the military as a profession.) 

Is the author telling us that Western civilization was an experiment that's run its course, and there's nothing we can do about it? 

Is there anything that we could do about it if we wanted to? You cannot explain these concepts to more than 1 person out of every 100,000.

5. The best use of this book is as a cautionary tale: to try your best to make sure that this does not happen to you and your children. Or, maybe if it didn't work out too well for you, this is your explanation as to why. 

6. We actually already have a lot of this stuff down by dint of following a tradition. (Orthodox Jewish.)

No TV? ✅ 
No video games? ✅ 
Computer time is limited to 30 minutes per day? ✅ 
Private school? ✅
Sporting events/activities? ✅ 
Encourage in person social interaction? ✅ 

7. The author says that a lot of boys imagine that sitting in class is "stupid." In the years since this book has been published, the scam is up about higher education. 

Start boys in school 2 years later, they graduate college two years later than girls the same age, and then find out two years later What girls already knew? (That college degrees are toilet paper.)

Verdict: recommended at the second hand price.


Quotes:

1. (197) A good place to talk with your son is in the car, with you driving and your son In the passenger seat: shoulder to shoulder, not face to face. 

2. (172) Culturally defined competence leads to reproductive success.