The crisis facing American boys might trace back to one essential problem

Biblical Context

Children’s moral and spiritual formation is assigned substantial importance in Scripture, and parents are repeatedly presented as primary teachers. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 directs parents to teach God’s commands diligently to their children in the ordinary rhythms of life. Psalm 78:5-7 likewise describes one generation transmitting God’s works and commands to the next so that children would place their confidence in God and remain faithful. These passages support the article’s concern that fathers and families should not surrender responsibility for a child’s formation, although they do not require schools to employ male teachers or imply that women are incapable of teaching children. Proverbs presents instruction as a family responsibility that includes correction, wisdom, self-control, and moral discernment. Proverbs 1:8-9 refers to a father’s instruction and a mother’s teaching together, which is significant because it supports active parental formation while avoiding the article’s sharper implication that education becomes deficient when women teach. Proverbs 22:6 emphasizes intentional early training, though it should not be treated as a mechanical guarantee that every child will follow a particular path. Ephesians 6:4 specifically addresses fathers, charging them not to provoke their children but to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. This directly supports the article’s criticism of passive or absent fatherhood and its call for fathers to take responsibility for their children’s development. At the same time, Scripture’s broader pattern includes women as teachers and exemplars: Titus 2:3-5 instructs older women to train younger women, and Timothy received formative instruction from his mother and grandmother in 2 Timothy 1:5 and 3:14-15. The biblical picture is therefore not that children require only male instruction, but that faithful adults—parents, relatives, and mature members of the community—should actively transmit truth, character, and wisdom. Titus 2:1-8 also supports the value of older men modeling soundness, self-control, dignity, and good works for younger people. That is a meaningful parallel to the article’s appeal for male mentors who can channel strength, competitiveness, and sexuality toward responsibility and service. The passage concerns life in the Christian community rather than a modern school staffing policy, so the connection is principled rather than prescriptive. Overall, Scripture materially addresses fatherhood, family responsibility, intergenerational instruction, discipline, and moral formation, but it does not validate every historical or educational conclusion made in the commentary.