To Be A Boy,
To
be a Reader. William G.
Brozo (International
Many boys do not read because the choices they are given in school do not capture their interest. For this reason, teachers need to be more careful and offer more choices for their male students. Our society today is cursed with a generation of men who have lost their role models and who have been influenced by media that belittles men and video-games based on violence and machoism. The literature that we choose for boys can give positive role models as well as teach boys to become better men.
According to Carl Jung, in order for a man to “become a true man, he must rediscover his spiritual, inner self”. To do this, boys must be “exposed to archetypal models of maleness that are inherent within the psyche of all men.” Most societies have remarkably similar traits that they consider masculine, among which are courage in face of danger, risk-taking that is thoughtful and necessary, and protection of family and community. Western civilization has disconnected men from their homes, their religions, and their inner selves resulting in men who have lost direction and who don’t give boys the role models they need.
Brozo proceeds to lay out ways that literature teachers can choose materials that reconnect boys with society’s expectations. He takes Jung’s ten archetypes and gives examples of books that represent each as well as teaching activities that can be used. He gives lists of books and websites that can be useful in selecting materials the boys will relate to and he offers good suggestions for ways teachers can involve boys in choices of reading.
Although there are parts of this book that I found interesting and useful, it was hard for me to buy into the teaching of the ten archetypes. For one thing, after talking with a counseling psychologist, I discovered that Jung’s theory has faded considerably since Robert Bly’s “Iron John” book. Boys will relate to finding their inner selves about as well as oil mixes with water. Many educational psychologists would prefer books that portray strong men living in the real world instead of magical warrior kingdoms. I guess the value of this book is to start me thinking about how I can give boys better choices of literature and how I can use these to influence their lives.