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| Can anything be done to help this generation of young men get back on course? |
Of the boys and men profiled in his book, Michael Kimmel writes:
In another era, these guys would undoubtedly be poised to
take their place in the adult world, taking the first steps toward becoming the
nation’s future professionals, entrepreneurs, and business leaders. They would
be engaged to be married, thinking about settling down with a family, preparing
for futures as civic leaders and Little League dads. Not today.
Today, many of these young men, poised between
adolescence and adulthood, are more likely to feel anxious and uncertain. In
college, they party hard but are soft on studying. They slip through the
academic cracks, another face in a large lecture hall, getting by with little
effort and less commitment. After graduation, they drift aimlessly from one
dead-end job to another, spend more time online playing video games and
gambling than they do on dates (and probably spend more money too), “hook up”
occasionally with a “friend with benefits,” go out with their buddies, drink
too much, and save too little. After college, they perpetuate that experience
and move home or live in group apartments in major cities, with several other
guys from their dorm or fraternity. They watch a lot of sports. They have
grandiose visions for their futures and not a clue how to get from here to
there. When they do try and articulate this amorphous uncertainty, they’re
likely to paper over it with a simple “it’s all good.”
[ … ]
Guyland is the world in which young men live. It is both a stage of life, a
liminal undefined time span between adolescence and adulthood that can often
stretch for a decade or more, and a place, or, rather, a bunch of places where
guys gather to be guys with each other, unhassled by the demands of parents,
girlfriends, jobs, kids, and the other nuisances of adult life. In this
topsy-turvy, Peter-Pan mindset, young men shirk the responsibilities of
adulthood and remain fixated on the trappings of boyhood, while the boys they
still are struggle heroically to prove that they are real men despite all
evidence to the contrary.
If "Guyland" is indeed home to millions of young American men, what can, and should, be done to help them achieve their full potential? What can society do to better help this generation gain a clearer sense of purpose? In a concise editorial, explain how you believe we, as a country, should address the issues of this generation of young men. To support your
thesis, cite evidence
from Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.
Requirements:
- MLA Style, including parenthetical citation
- 3-page minimum
- Include a works cited page
The best papers:
- Have a title that articulates its point of view
- Stay within the parameters of the subject matter
- Have a concise thesis which clearly outlines a position
- Are written in a voice that is casual, yet informed
- Clearly support their thesis with solid evidence and a logical structure, citing from Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men
- Conclude with a summation of the argument
- Properly cite evidence using MLA's parenthetical citation method
- Are in compliance with MLA Style
Sample editorials from around the country:
Due: Thursday, Oct. 4th (Draft 1; Bring 2 copies)
