The Men We Need On National Television
We were so pleased recently to discover that the program was being used so successfully at a local high school. Jon Hanna, featured in this interview has a real heart for young men and for seeing them really flourish in life. Jon recently began using The Men We Need resource as part of a bigger program at his school.
The interview captures something of the many issues young men face at this moment in history. Of particular relevance was the issue of body image and how that impacts young men’s sense of self-esteem. When a young man feels he cannot attain an ideal that is constantly presented to him then the results can be extremely negative. Some react with anger and some withdraw further into themselves.
At the very least the interview shows that the issues facing young men are increasingly gaining national attention. One of the key aspects we wanted to help young men understand is the crucial issue of how they use masculine strength. So much of the time, young men are conditioned to react out of anger and fear and their strength is channeled into violence or depression. The Men We Need is about helping them, through the support of teachers and families and other mentors so see a new horizon where they have so much to offer to others and to the wider world.
What is the Men We Need?
The Men We Need is a seven-part program that gives schools a comprehensive resource for positive change in the lives of young men.
The program consists of a series of powerful, relevant and modern videos for classroom use as well as student workbooks, staff manuals and ongoing digital content provision including podcasts and other content. It aims to create a new culture of manhood in each school where young men are given the information, encouragement and opportunity to become all they were made to be.
How The Men We Need can help your school?
Boys’ education is a task that lies at the very heart of every successful culture in history. The ability to form young men in healthy and prosocial ways that empower them to achieve their potential, develop healthy relationships with women and serve the wider community has never been more important. Boys’ education is a process that calls every committed educator to develop cutting edge strategies for teaching boys and even more importantly to discover what is best in boys.
The Men We Need explores multiple key issues in the lives of young men through the dominant paradigm of how masculine strength is used. So many young men receive a toxic cultural formation. They are sadly encouraged to use their strength for selfish, dominant or destructive ends. The Men We Need aims to invert that paradigm by communicating a powerful new message; that masculine strength can be placed at the service of something bigger than the individual. It is this desire to see manhood released for positive and pro-social ends that is the core of The Men We Need program.
Core problem facing boys
Sadly, the whole area of boys and education is no longer simply about pure educational outcomes and attainment. Few observers would dispute that teachers and schools engaged in boys’ education now face an increased range of expectations in how they reach boys and aim to meet their needs. Often, schools are pushed to breaking point as young men face increasingly complex issues.
So many schools and so many teachers have to devote so much energy to addressing problematic behaviours in young men. Often the school is stepping into the vacuum created by a lack of involved and present fathers in the lives of boys requiring the school to provide increasing levels of moral and character formation. The prevalence of pornography is rapidly re shaping an entire generations understanding of masculinity, sex and how men relate to women. The flow on impact of compulsive pornography use and the lack of good male role models means young men are desperately in need of mentorship and solid formation on what it how to be and what it means to be a man.
Seven Online Vidoes – Expert & Student Interviews – Facilitator’s Manual – Student Workbooks – Student Podcasts – Boys Education Blog
A lOOK INSIDE
The Men We Need Program is charged as an annual liscence fee of $299US.
Overview of the program
PART 1:
The Crisis In Masculinity
It seems increasingly difficult to open a newspaper, surf the Interned or watch TV without seeing another example of manhood gone wrong. From sexual crimt to men caught in political and sporting scandals we can begin to wonder, “What is happening to manhood?” Why do many young men see so few examples of committed fathers and husbands? Why are values like humanity, service and care for others hidden from young men while they are constantly presented with the ideal of fame and finance via sporting, media or business success alone?
It seems we face a major cultural crisis in what it means to be a fine man. Until we dig down into the roots of the problem we have little hope of genuine change.
PART 2:
Powerful forces
The changes we see in outcomes for young men have not happened by accident. They are the result of complex interplay of social and technological changes. Many of these forces are not neutral and present a view of what it means to be human that can be destructive to both individuals and communities.
In recent years,massive technological change including increasingly violent video games, easy access to extereme Internet pornography and rapid uptake of social media has profound impacts upon young men. We need to understand these forces and help young men critique and mnanage their impact in their lives.
PART 3:
Male sexuality 101
With many young men experiencing a tragically limited input from older men, fathers and mentors the cruical
importance of understanding male sexuality is often outsourced to the peer group and the Internet. No area of masculinity has a bigger impact upon a young man over the long-term than the importance of making great decisions in the area of sexuality.
It’s an area that has been reduced to body-parts and harm-minimisation. They deserce more and we can do better. We can tell a story of the awesome nature of what is means to be a male secual person made in the image of God and how sexuality is a source of strength to be challenged into life-giving paths in marriage and family.
PART 4:
How Pornography Works
Few issues pose a greater threat to young men than the manner in which extreme pornography can hijack a healthy and life-giving view of sexuality and create confusion, uncertainity and anxiety. This module provides an in-depth exploration of the way that pornography can change belief systems and behaviours and creates a sence of isolation and unhappiness for many young men.
As an issue that is rarely spoken about it is crucial that staff and students begin to gain a new understanding of this major force in the lives of many of our students.
PART 5:
The Impact of Pornography
For too long many people have assumed that pornography is a relatively harmless distraction. However, a vast and growing body of high-level scientific research has increasingly shown that powerful effetcs upon neurochemistry and brain structure are now common for heavy users of Internet pornography. Significant studies show problems with impulse control and the ability to foresee consequences caused by excess dopamine production during pornography use.
This module gives staff and young men a powerful insight into how this issue is shaping attitudes, behavoiours and relationships and what we can do to create change.
PART 6:
Relationships With Women
When young men are given a positive understanding of their male sexuality and have been supported to understand the risks posed by pornography they are in the best place to develop healthy, caring and mutually supportive relationships with women. Whether it is mothers, sisters, and girlfriends or teaching staff, the ability to have respectful relationships with women lies at the very heart of what is means to be a fine man.
Our boys, via pornography and other media formats are given toxic daily messages about women and they need encourgement and support in learning how to relate as equals who respect the value and dignity of every woman.
PART 7:
The Nobility of Manhood
The one thing our culture desperately needs in a renewed vision of the nobility of manhood. Men are increasingly characterised in negative ways in much mainstream media. From the dumb dad to the sexually predatory male, multiple film, music and Internet formats protray men as violent, sexually aggressive and emotionally incapaciated.
It’s time to start telling a different story. It’s time to start telling a story of what is possible. A story about young men who are encouraged, supported and challenged to live a new vision of relationships, service and selflessness. This module delivers a powerful, motivating and challenging message to every young man to discover just what he can achieve for himself and for others.