A psychologist suggests strategies for reaching boys before they reach for guns. Educators, Pollack explained in a recent interview with NEA Today , can and must do more to address boys' unique social, academic, and emotional needs. It's a series of outmoded, unspoken, unwritten rules of conduct by which, for generations, we have brought up boys. According to the code, boys must be tough, stoic, not dependent on others, inexpressive people who are not allowed to share their pain.
Boys feel great pressure to emulate the code's ideal boy.
Since they always fall short of this impossible ideal, they become frustrated, depressed, and angry. Some suffer low self-esteem and turn violent. This lowers their self-esteem as learners and makes them hate school. They feel disconnected and mistreated. They're taught they can't show tears.