As you found out in this space three weeks ago, I am a fan of radio and television commentator, Michael Smerconish. While my wife and I are not regular viewers of CNN, Smerconish’s Saturday morning show at 9 am on CNN has become appointment viewing for us. As I noted in my previous column, in addition to his centrist perspective, we are attracted to his “Daily Poll” because it typically addresses a timely and relevant topic in a very interesting manner. On this past Saturday’s show, Smerconish’s poll question was: “Do we need government programs that specifically address the struggles facing young men?” Prior to posing that question, Smerconish provided some troubling statistics concerning young men in the United States and interviewed guests who hypothesized some potential reasons for those struggles and identified some possible remedies.
The current statistics on teenage boys and young men in their twenties reflect declining educational outcomes, rising behavioral issues, increasing loneliness, and alarming suicide rates. In the Spring of 2025, 58% of all college undergraduates were women; therefore, only 42% were men. Teenagers and young men are also demonstrating increasing behavioral and developmental problems. In addition, fifteen percent of teenage boys say they have no friends, a rate that has quintupled since 1990. Males commit suicide at a rate of four times that of women, and men’s participation in the labor force has steadily fallen while women’s participation has risen. Ten percent of men between the ages of 20 and 24 are not in school and not working, effectively not engaged, double the rate of 1990.
During Smerconish’s Saturday program (I encourage you to listen to it here: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/smerconish-on-cnn/episodes/45a3003e-2cca-11ef-88f0-4746b1315164 ), he brought on three guests to address potential causes and solutions to these problems. His guests were Scott Galloway and Richard Reeves, each of whom has written extensively on this topic, and Rahm Emanuel, who, among other positions, was the Mayor of Chicago, and identified this issue during his tenure as Mayor from 2011 to 2019. Reeves believes that advancements in gender equality have inadvertently disadvantaged men and boys. He indicates that our education system and economy are not structured to support the developmental timing and needs of men and boys. He points to the timing of brain development as a major factor. Girls’ brains mature faster than boys during adolescence, leading to advantages in the skills required for preparing for college. In addition, the decline of manufacturing jobs has removed key entry points into the middle class for those without a college degree. In addition, all three guests pointed to the need for mentorship, community support, and potentially government programs to help address these problems.
Interestingly, the Smerconish audience was almost evenly divided on his poll question. 50.84% of respondents voted “No” that we do not need government programs to address these problems, while 49.16% voted “Yes.” While I did not vote in the poll, I would have voted “Yes” even though I am usually less inclined toward more government involvement. However, I think this is an issue that the government can uniquely address, if done correctly. While I had recommended it for other reasons in the past, I believe mandatory national service would provide many answers to the struggles young men are experiencing.
From May 2017 to September 2022, prior to writing this weekly column for Augusta Business Daily (ABD), I wrote a column every other Sunday for the Augusta Chronicle. Twice during that time, April 20, 2019 ( https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/business/2019/04/20/rick-franza-national-service-could-be-game-changer-problem-solver/5384944007/ ) and July 18, 2021, and https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/business/2021/07/18/invest-human-infrastructure-through-national-service/7971796002/, I wrote columns extolling the benefits of two years of mandatory national service for all young people immediately following high school graduation. In addition, I also brought up mandatory national service in my ABD column of June 4, 2024 (https://augustabusinessdaily.com/i-am-rick-franza-and-i-approve-this-message/) as part of my recommendation of an ideal platform for a 2024 Presidential candidate.
As you can see, I have provided links to all three columns to provide more detail on why mandatory national service is a good idea and what it might look like. However, what follows are reasons why such a service would be particularly beneficial in addressing the current struggles of young males:
- Brain Development “Catch-up”: Girls’ brains, on average, mature two to three years earlier than males, and are fully developed by their early 20s. Having an additional two years of brain development (and life experience) before going to college, trade or technical school, or starting a career will likely put males on a path more likely to succeed. This will help address the despair many young men are experiencing.
- Developing Friendships/” Mingling”: Working a national service assignment will provide young men with an opportunity to work and interact with others. This will likely lead to more of what Smerconish calls “mingling”; that is, people socializing together. When people are working on a common “mission”, friendships tend to develop. I have seen that in my military experience. So, people working on some kind of service together will likely lead to more friendships/relationships, which will likely lead to happier young men.
- Skill Development/Money for College: A national service program will provide young people with additional benefits that will make their futures brighter. For those not interested in college, national service might provide them with training for a trade (e.g., infrastructure corps) that might lead to a middle-class livelihood and career. For those who plan on attending college or technical school after their service, a national service program could allow them to earn tuition and/or scholarship credit that they can apply to their future education (similar to the GI Bill).
- Unity/National Morale: I have never seen our country at a lower point in terms of national unity and morale. People are disagreeing with each other without really knowing each other. National service will allow people of different backgrounds, different geographies, different racial, ethnic, and religious beliefs to all get to know each other better, similar to World War II, when men from all around the country were better able to understand their fellow Americans. When this happens, people will learn that our similarities are greater than our differences, improving unity and morale.
As I indicated earlier in this column, I am not usually a proponent of government being the primary solution to our problems. However, given the current struggles of young men, I see a national service as the best possible solution to this problem. If we can successfully address this challenge, our country will be better off socially and economically, leading to better results for both individuals and businesses.
