–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

There are more boys alive today than at any time in human history. Africa, in particular, possesses an army of boys, as it is projected that by 2050, 40% of the world’s children will live in Africa. By 2055, Africa’s child population will reach one billion. By 2050, boys ages 1-18 will account for 1.5 billion of the population, more than the entire world’s population just 200 years ago in 1825. 

Add to this the 21^st century’s One-Child policy—which wiped out millions of female births—and it’s clear that boys should be our priority, though not for what they can accomplish at this moment.

Despite most boys being too tender-aged for great exploits, there are outliers. Mozart wrote his first symphony at age eight. Alexander the Great started conquering the world at age eighteen. Both at age nineteen, respectively, the Marquis de Lafayette helped turn the tide of the Revolutionary War and Blaise Pascal invented a calculator.  

But the average boy simply needs steady character training today so that he will be of good use tomorrow. Let’s explore some reasons why boys matter.