Tom Mortenson’s paper, “Meltdown in Higher Education: This Has Never Happened Before” You can read the full paper below or download it in PDF format here: Meltdown in Higher Education: U.S. Tom Mortenson, Senior ScholarThe Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Educationtom@postsecondary.orgDecember 26, 2023 In 2021 there were 15.4 million undergraduate students READ MORE
Category: Blog Posts
“It’s Time for Recess” Campaign
The Boys Initiative strongly believes that all kids should have recess every day and canceling recess should not be punishment for bad behavior. Our “It’s Time for Recess Campaign” focuses on educating legislators about the importance of recess for kids, especially boys. We were encouraged by a major success in 2023. California’s K-8 public school READ MORE
Opinion: New York Times and Test Grades — Excellent Article, Glaring Error
The New York Times published a piece entitled, “The Misguided War on the SAT: Colleges have fled standardized tests, on the theory that they hurt diversity. That’s not what the research shows.” William Draves and Julie Coates have written the following response: Excellent Article, Glaring Error There is an excellent article in The New York READ MORE
School Children Get a Break with Mandatory Recess Laws… But is it Enough?
At the beginning of 2023, Maine looked like was leading the way in expanding recess time to children in the 6th through 8th grades—and the recess time was not to be revoked for disciplinary purposes. If LD156 had been signed into law, Maine might have also become one of the 12 known states to mandate READ MORE
Boys Learn Emotional Regulation Through Parental Emotional Attunement
In my article titled, “Boys of All Ages Need Physical Nurturance from both Mom and Dad”, we discussed the developmental importance of boys receiving skin-to-skin nurturance and physical affection at every stage of their development. A crucial component of physical nurturance is emotional attunement—when parents are sensitively attuned to the emotions of their child and READ MORE
Boys of All Ages Need Physical Nurturance from Both Mom and Dad
Early skin-to-skin physical affection of children by both mothers and fathers wires the child’s brain with the ability to cope in a socially and emotionally healthy and adaptive manner with stress and distressed emotions, leading to stable behavior. Receiving skin-to-skin nurturance stimulates bonding hormones and healthy neurochemistry, and it wires organs in the limbic system READ MORE
“For Every 100 Girls…” Data Project & Awareness Campaign
The Graphic below shows a sampling of our findings. For the full list and data sources for the findings, click HERE. The Boys Initiative is excited to share the 2023 update of “For Every 100 Girls.” This awareness campaign is contributing significantly to the broader conversation about gender equality and highlighting the importance of addressing READ MORE
Young Male Suicide: The Epidemic No One is Talking About
Loved ones were shocked to learn that my son’s first suicide attempt was reportedly in his “therapeutic” preschool—approximately six or seven years before he joined my family through adoption. According to Brycen’s recollection to me and later confirmed by records I obtained, the preschool incident was the first of many suicidal gestures, plans, and attempts READ MORE
TBI Helping Boys Thrive Highlight Video #2: Breakout Sessions
Check out some highlights from The Boys Initiative’s Helping Boys Thrive™ Summit! Featured speakers include: Dr. Warren FarrellDr. Mark PerryJennifer L.W. FinkRay NelsonWilliam DravesRenee Griffith
New Legislation In California Guarantees Daily Recess For Children
California’s K-8 public school pupils are now guaranteed access to at least 30 minutes of recess on regular instruction days and at least 15 minutes on early release days, beginning with the 2024-25 school year. Legislators in both the Senate and Assembly unanimously passed SB-291, a bill introduced this year by Senator Josh Newman, Chair READ MORE