The Gentlemen's Club was created to restore hope for boys in our communities. The facilitator's guide and materials provide all the resources needed to implement a Gentlemen's Club. Clubs should complete one module a week for a total of 40 weeks.

How We Can Help Boys

As Stephen Peters points out, African-American males are a population at risk. For this reasons, it is especially that we nurture young African-American male students by helping them recognize that knowledge is "transforming energy" that can be used to improve one's self and the world in which we live. Consider the following points as you begin your Gentlemen's Club.

1. We need to see boys through a "different lens." The "traditional" means of viewing boys is no longer adequate.
As Peters points out, traditionally we have been trained to see boys as lacking "the capacity for feeling." Of course, this is entirely unfounded and we need to enable and even urge boys to express themselves. Sometimes, he states "society demand[s] more than they are developmentally able to give while unnecessarily lowering expectations of self-control, emotional honesty, and moral responsibility" (Peters, p2). The key, then, is keeping a balance between our expectations for boys and allowing them appropriate modes of expression and responsibility.

2. We need to "speak to a boy's internal life" on all occasions, regardless of "whether he is aware of it or not."
In order to assist boys in having an "internal, emotional vocabulary," we must speak to them with sensitivity and awareness. In so doing, we enable boys to "better understand their inner self and to communicate more effectively with others" (Peters, p2). Peters recommends that instead of asking "You can try out for basketball or be in The Gentleman's Club. Which do you want to do?," we say "I know you were disappointed about not making the team last year . Do you want to take that risk and try out again? How are you going to choose between the two?" By stating the latter, we affirm a student's sense of emotional well-being and encourage him to think and make decisions based on emotion and reason.

3. We need to be aware of boys "high activity level" and provide them with "safe places to express it."
Boys, especially, need physical exercise to express "their energy and their exuberance." As Peters stresses, it is important that parents, guardians, and teachers provide boys with the opportunity to enjoy physical activity both in their communities and schools.

In addition to physical activity, boys should be provided the opportunity to express their intellectual energy in safe ways that correspond to their interests and learning profiles. "This happens in classrooms wherein students are asked to keep journals, write essays, create art, write rap songs, or engage in discussions about feelings" (Peters, p3).

4. We need to speak to boys "in a way that honors their pride and masculinity."
As Peters makes clear, boys "often act as if they were allergic to direct emotional appeal." For this reason and many others, it is important that we use a "language" with boys that "honors their desire for pride and strength" while simultaneously tapping into their emotions. Asking boys, in a "direct" fashion, to serve as "consultants" and "problem solvers" is merely one way of doing this.

5. We need to "teach boys that emotional courage IS courage."
In today's world of hyper-media, many boys misconstrue the actions of Rambo and Dog, the Bounty Hunger, as courageous men. It's all the more important, therefore, that we remind students of truly courageous men, men like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others who fought for civil rights and the rights of all men. Once they truly learn more about such heroic figures, boys will be better able to "ma[ke] the connection to emotional courage" (Peters, p3).