What does it mean to be a good man? Boys need fathers -- or male mentors

Raised by single mothers, taught by female teachers, treated by female pediatricians, many boys are growing up with few male role models, writes Claire Cain Miller in the New York Times. That "is contributing to their struggles in school and employment — and the overall feeling that they’re adrift."

Coach Eric Taylor mentored quarterback Vince Howard in "Friday Night Lights"

One in five children grows up without a father at home, she notes. Fatherlessness especially disadvantages boys.

Black boys, who are the most likely to be raised by a single mother, "do better in neighborhoods where there are more fathers around, even if not their own," research has shown.

Even when disadvantaged children are matched with mentors, a majority are women, writes Miller. Mentoring groups find it hard to recruit enough men to meet the demand.

Sports, Scouts and church are the primary places where boys without involved fathers find male mentors. It makes a difference, young men told the Times.

Boys hear that masculinity is "toxic," said Patrick Hirschfeld, 22, who lives in Richmond, Va., and is studying to work in homeland security. Some turn to online influencers who "give them a structure, they give them rules, this is how you can improve your life.” But it may be very bad advice.

Among the heroes of the tragic floods in Texas are a Coast Guardsman who got flood victims on to helicopters, a man who died saving his family and teen-age counselors at a boys' camp who pulled boys into the rafters of their cabin, then helped them swim to safety. I hope young men and boys realize there are role models out there.

Growing up with a father protects boys from bad behavior and girls from depression, write Maria Baer and Brad Wilcox. They cite Good Fathers, Flourishing Kids, which focuses on families in Virginia.

The report is a joint project of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, the National Center for Black Family Life at Hampton University, and the American Enterprise Institute.

Among other things, the report finds that growing up in an intact two-parent family erases racial achievement and behavior gaps. "More than 85 percent of these children get mostly A’s and B’s and less than 1 in 5 have parents contacted about school problems," with black children doing slightly better than whites. "By contrast, white and black children in father-absent families do markedly worse in school" with fatherless black children doing even worse than similar white and Hispanic students.