What if the reason boys are failing — in school, at work, in life — is that we REMOVED every single thing that used to turn them into men? No rite of passage. No initiation. No moment where a boy crosses into manhood. Just more school. More scrolling. More safety. And NO chainsaw. There's a school in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains doing something RADICAL. They're handing high-school boys chainsaws and felling full-grown oak trees. And it's not a vocational school. It's a MASCULINITY LAB. This is MORNINGS IN THE LAB. I'm Keith, he's Jon. Show 3025. Tuesday, April 14th, 2026. Let's GET INTO IT.
We're not talking about a fringe idea. We are talking about a DECADES-LONG COLLAPSE. Male outcomes in education — DOWN. Male outcomes in the workplace — DOWN. Male health outcomes — DOWN. Brookings economist Richard Reeves wrote the book — literally — called Of Boys and Men. And he dropped one of the most clarifying quotes in this conversation: "The role of mothers has been expanded to include breadwinning as well as caring — but the role of fathers has NOT been expanded to include caring as well as breadwinning." We redefined what women could be. THAT'S GREAT. But we never redefined what men SHOULD be. We quietly removed the old script. And handed boys — nothing. Father Mark Perkins — chaplain of St. Dunstan's Academy — says the root is DISEMBODIMENT. Modern life has outsourced everything physical. Boys grow up never doing anything with their hands. Never feeling danger. Never conquering ANYTHING. And then we wonder why they're lost.
Here are FIVE things to bring up with your crew today. ONE: "America abolished every rite of passage for boys — do you think that's connected to the mental health crisis in young men?" — Watch what happens. TWO: "Is safetyism destroying boys?" Father Perkins says it directly: "Safetyism is one of the greatest enemies of growth into adulthood, especially for boys." React to that. THREE: "If you could design a rite of passage for a young man in your life — what would it look like?" — Real talk. FOUR: "Skilled trades are increasingly lucrative AND more AI-resistant than white-collar jobs — are we funneling boys into the wrong futures?" — That's a LIVE debate. FIVE: "When did YOU become a man? Was there a moment? A challenge? A mentor?" — That question will open up a conversation you won't forget.
Let's go DEEPER. St. Dunstan's Academy — 176 ACRES in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, just outside Sperryville. A boarding school for high-school boys. Farm. Trades. Classics. Father Mark Perkins is chaplain and assistant headmaster — a priest in the Anglican Province of America. This is NOT a trade school. Let that be clear. The trades are there for FORMATION. Two of their four faculty are licensed contractors. The flagship rite of passage: felling a full-grown tree with a chainsaw. Done right — careful instruction, skilled mentor at your elbow — it's not especially risky. Driving to campus is statistically RISKIER. But it FEELS terrifying to the neophyte. Conquering that fear — that's the POINT. When a massive red oak crashes to the forest floor — that WHOMP you hear and FEEL — that lives in you forever. Father Perkins draws on the ancient three-part structure of rites of passage found across every culture: FIRST — a boy is REMOVED from his family. SECOND — he is INITIATED through challenge. The boy must die so the man can emerge. THIRD — he is ASSIMILATED into adult community. His band of brothers. His vocation. Jacob. Moses. David. Even Jesus in the Temple. We didn't invent this structure. We ABANDONED it.
You don't need 176 acres. You don't need a chainsaw. But you DO need to think about the boys in your life. Are they being TRULY challenged — with real stakes and real risk? Or are they being protected from everything that would actually BUILD them? Here's what Father Perkins and the research both point to: ONE — Put boys in communities of MEN. In PERSON. Mentorship changes trajectory. TWO — Give them hard physical work directed toward USEFUL ends. Real work that builds something. THREE — Stop removing all danger. Thoughtful risk-taking under guidance is HOW character gets forged. FOUR — Skilled trades are not a consolation prize. They're increasingly LUCRATIVE and AI-RESISTANT. That is the future. FIVE — If you're a father, uncle, coach, or mentor — YOU are the community that initiates them. Act like it.
Most of us know something is wrong. Young men drifting. Disconnected. Screens everywhere. Purpose nowhere. Real talk: boys are not broken. They're UNCHALLENGED. The same drive that once cleared land and built civilizations — it's still in there. It just has no outlet. No ritual. No moment where someone says: you made it. You're one of us now. Father Perkins says we need places where young men experience ADULT RESPONSIBILITIES, CHALLENGES, and RISKS within a THICK COMMUNITY. Thick community. Not online followers. Not a Discord server. Men. Present. Investing. Demanding the best from each other. That's what we're about in THIS community.
Drop it in the chat right now: Was there a moment in YOUR life that made you feel like a man? A challenge? A mentor? A trial? Do you think modern boys are being over-protected — or is that a myth? What's ONE thing you'd put in a rite of passage if you were designing it today? Men in this community don't just consume content. You THINK. You REFLECT. You ACT. That's REAL TALK. That's INFORMATIVE CONVERSATIONS. That's ENTERTAINING CONVERSATION. Comment. Share. Tag the man in your life who needed to hear this today.
A 176-acre farm in the Virginia mountains. Boys with chainsaws felling red oaks. An ancient structure — removal, initiation, assimilation — being rebuilt from scratch. Father Mark Perkins and St. Dunstan's Academy are not nostalgic. They're not reactionary. They're just reading history clearly and asking: what did we throw away? Modern society told boys: be safe. Be comfortable. Be careful. And it produced a generation asking: what am I FOR? The answer hasn't changed in thousands of years. Challenge. Community. Purpose. Responsibility. The script was never lost. We just STOPPED READING IT. Time to pick it back up. This has been MORNINGS IN THE LAB. Show 3025. Tuesday, April 14th, 2026. I'm Keith. He's Jon. We'll see you TOMORROW. Stay SHARP.
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