Is there a war against boys?

Maybe it’s still a man’s world, where males unjustly dominate the realms of business, athletics, entertainment, clergy and many other pillars of American life.

But you wouldn’t know that by looking closely at our schools. “Girls rule and boys drool” is probably more accurate than most would care to admit.

In a recent editorial on local high school valedictorians and salutatorians, we alluded to the anomaly of girls dominating the highest rung on the academic ladder. The final tally shows 24 valedictorians and salutatorians at the seven main high schools in Kootenai County. Every valedictorian is female. Every salutatorian except two at Lakeland High School is female. Yes, 22 of 24 vals and sals are females. For you math majors, that’s 92 percent girls.

We’ve been advised that the Friday noon Coeur d’Alene Rotary Club awarded 14 scholarships Friday — 12 to girls. For you math majors, that’s 86 percent. Last year this tremendous service club gave away a similar number of scholarships. Every one of them went to girls. (Math majors, that’s a lot.)

The last thing we want to do is start a boys vs. girls cafeteria food fight. But if these numbers play out similarly elsewhere in the U.S., and there’s evidence that they do, something is seriously wrong with society, our education system, or both. And something needs to be done about it.

For our edification, we did a little research suggested by Les Atchley, a local financial consultant and astute observer. In that research was a 5-minute video from Prager U hosted by Christina Hoff Sommers. The video bears the same name as her book, “The War Against Boys.”

We encourage you to watch the video — http://bit.ly/1jwxJfh — where you’ll learn about surmountable problems boys face and about Sommers’ four recommended steps to help lads catch up with the lassies in the classroom. The steps are:

1. Turn boys into readers.

2. Inspire the male imagination.

3. Zero out zero tolerance.

4. Bring back recess.

Sommers succinctly explains each step, and what she says smacks of common sense. As with just about anything online these days, the video is accompanied by many comments that take the positive train right off the tracks, prompting anti-feminism rants and worse. That’s a pity, because creating a classroom environment that’s as enticing for boys as it is for girls shouldn’t devolve into a political or personal debate. This isn’t about conservative vs. liberal values; it’s about our sons and daughters, our grandsons and granddaughters. And there’s some wise, practical advice packed into that 5 minutes or so.

Give it a look or check out Sommers’ book. There’s still plenty of room at the top for high achievers, and our nation will be the greatest beneficiary.