The Lost Boys of 'Task'

We are often told that there is a crisis of boys and men in this country. They’re depressed, aimless, susceptible to malign persuasion. They’re underperforming at school, at work, in their social lives. They’re afraid of saying the wrong thing, and so they are taken in by charlatans who encourage them to say the wrong thing loudly. It’s so bad that interventions need to be made early and often. Kindergarten, Title IX, the disproportionately female corps of teachers in American schools—the institutions have failed boys, and so, finally, the institutions need to be either reformed or gamed.