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New Tactic for Attracting Young Men

By Richard Whitmire — February 02, 2010 1 min read
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If colleges can start up football programs for the sole purpose of attracting more guys, why shouldn’t churches sponsor ultimate fighting bouts to accomplish the same? Sounds like a good idea to the faithful profiled in this New York Times story.

After all, Jesus Christ was a fighter, pointed out one minister.

From the article:

The outreach is part of a larger and more longstanding effort on the part of some ministers who fear that their churches have become too feminized, promoting kindness and compassion at the expense of strength and responsibility. "The man should be the overall leader of the household," said Ryan Dobson, 39, a pastor and fan of mixed martial arts who is the son of James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical group. "We've raised a generation of little boys."

That hyper macho attitude, however, is what leads many boys to conclude that reading is for girls. And when boys give up on literacy, they also give up much of their potential for supporting for a family. Isn’t that what Dobson wants? As usual, I’m confused.

The opinions expressed in Why Boys Fail are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.