Let boys be boys

This is delightfully counter-cultural.

“The Dangerous Book for Boys,” written by two English brothers, Conn and Hal Iggulden, violates all the rules of political correctness – and males between the ages of 8 and 80 are reading it in droves.

Already a major best seller in Great Britain, the book is now topping the lists in America. Its appeal is obvious – it goes directly for the pleasure centers of the male brain.

“The Dangerous Book for Boys” is all about Swiss Army knives, compasses, tying knots and starting fires with a magnifying glass. It includes adventure stories with male heroes, vivid descriptions of battles and a history of artillery. Readers learn how to make their own magnets, periscopes and bows and arrows. It gives rules and tactics for poker and marbles – and secret moves for coin tricks.

In a radical departure from modern schoolroom readings, the book has almost nothing to say about feelings, relationships or how boys can learn to cry. It valorizes risk, adventure and manliness.

We need manly men again. The feminization of society has taken a serious toll on males, boys and men, and they are disadvantaged and undervalued. They aren’t even sure of their identities with all the sensitivity training and ‘remediation’ going on in schools and the general culture.

Today’s boys inhabit a danger-averse world where even old favorites like tag and dodge ball are under a cloud – Too competitive! Someone might get hurt! The National Parent Teacher Association recommends a cooperative alternative to the fiercely competitive “tug of war” called “tug of peace.”

‘Tug of peace’?! I’m as much for peace as anybody on the planet, but…c’mon. 

By contrast, “The Dangerous Book for Boys” has detailed instructions on how to hunt, kill, skin and cook a rabbit.

Yet the book doesn’t encourage boys to be Neanderthals. It tells them they have to become gentlemen. To this end, it offers lessons in manners, grammar and “seven poems every boy should know.” It features an astute essay on that most mysterious of subjects, girls, and how to respect them, make friends with them and not to offend them.

Where else are they learning these things? Nobility, valor, boyhood, scruffiness, manners, poetry, respect for girls…all in one adventurous, wildly popular volume.

The sad lesson of this book’s success is how far our current education culture has drifted from the world of boys. The special art of teaching boys – once so well understood by educators everywhere – is at risk of being lost forever.

One literacy expert reviewed several junior-high social studies texts and concluded: “Many students may well end up thinking that the West was settled chiefly by females, most often accompanied by their parents.”

In her alarming book, “The Language Police,” education historian Diane Ravitch describes how “sensitivity and bias committees” in our leading publishing houses now routinely expunge from textbooks and standardized tests all mention of potentially upsetting topics. Two major publishing companies specifically interdict references to frightening animals such as rats, mice, roaches and snakes.

That’s ridiculous. Meanhwhile, our children are getting plenty of indoctrination in other potentially upsetting topics. 

“The Dangerous Book for Boys” will send bias and sensitivity committees into turmoil – but its very success may eventually put them out of business.

Let the people speak. For a change.