This text confronts the complacent assumption that "boys will be boys" which has resulted in a widespread blindness about the problem of boys in school. It challenges the culture of aggressive manliness within which most boys have grown up and the destructive masculinity that they learn later in life. This challenging is done by critically investigating the key social forces that shape boys - insults, put-downs, sport and the making of masculine bodies and militaristic culture. The book is a balance between theories on boys and classroom practice. Each chapter has a thematic introduction, a series of classroom strategies (including practical suggestions for classroom use), and an "in the classroom" section which includes a short account of working with boys on some of these themes in an inner-city comprehensive school.