Boys' Academic Pandemic Abstract If schools didn't exist, there would be no boy crisis or Academic Pandemic. The single root cause is the lack of literacy (reading) skills due to instructional malpractice involving when and how reading instruction is done. It's a combination of practices because "schools are for girls, dominated by females; and misandry-prejudice against boys--conscious and unconscious-. Unless the thorny issues involved are resolved aggressively and effectively, it will continue to cause pervasive consequences. In addition, overwhelming research proves that black boys are in a "free fall" without schools implementing known effective remedies. School officials have used the false narrative that socio-economic factors--poverty, discrimination, dysfunctional families, poor housing etc.--are causes to absolve them from responsibility to remedy the problems. The proof is the "Mississippi Miracle that has made more progress in just ten years than any other state." The remedies and treatments must be matched with root, not "perceived" causes. The deficits are shockingly manifested in the 2022 National Assessment of Education Progress results, with 67% (30 million) below proficiency in reading and 75% (35 million) below in math. When frustrated with learning, stress, and anger result that cause dire consequences (discipline chaos, and the school-to-prison pipeline (dropouts), becoming evident because that's where students are compared with one another over 12 years; Dysfunctional homes, single-parent homes, and overprotective parents also play a crucial role in creating Bubble-Wrap Children (BWC) who are armed with layers of protective bubble wrap to shield them from any negative flak but school and life events find ways to pierce the bubble. The root cause is too obvious to consider as the book will reveal; instead, it must be viewed as more complex when it's not. It closes with an open letter to incarcerated youth.
