“What's the matter with my son?" "Why won't boys talk to adults?" “Why is he an underachiever in school?" Educators and parents in the U.S. are engaged in an important debate about the way we raise and educate boys. After 20 years of illuminating research on girls and the debate about gender equity in schools, it is time to consider some of the risk factors that affect the lives of boys. They are four times more likely than girls to be sent to a school psychologist; they are diagnosed with 60-80% of learning disorders. Their areas of strength, physical activity and visual-spatial perception, are not as important as verbal skills in the feminine, quiet, word-dominated environment of schools. Boys do not do as well in school as girls, from elementary school through college, and they are at risk for concluding that schools don't work for them. In early adolescence most boys begin to attach their sense of status to mastery and achievement. Thompson gives suggestions to teachers, fathers and mothers about how to support a boy in the early years of school and how to help a boy remain emotionally open in adolescence. Michael Thompson, Ph.D., is a New York Times best-selling author and psychologist, specializing in children and families. He has worked with more than 500 schools across the United States. Author of nine books on parenting both boys and girls, he has won acclaim for works such as the best-selling book Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. He is also the author of Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Raising Sons, as well as his latest book, Homesick and Happy: How Time Away from Parents Can Help a Child Grow.