Importance of Paternal Involvement in the Education of their Children

The past 40 years have seen significant declines in the numbers of males graduating from high school, attending college, and earning professional or college degrees. Dr. Wortham asks why some young men complete high school while others do not. He''s looked at fathers whose sons graduated from high school and postulates young men whose fathers are involved in their sons education generally go on to college. He makes a compelling argument of focusing on the prize from the beginning because successful young men plan early to go to college." Captured in a pyramid Maslow-like flowchart he calls his NIOBE model, his theory presents a transformational process of how fathers communicated the value of education to their sons. Beginning with fathers accepting a ''new'' concept of fathering, these fathers are ''intentional'' about fathering, give ''ownership'' to their sons, scaffold their sons into ''bi- stewards'' of their own education as self- actualized equipped men empowered with success strategies. He offers common sense recommendations for teachers, parents, and administrators on how to combat the growing male high-school dropout rates.